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XXX w. 



WORD TO COMMANDERS 



BEING A DISCOURSE 



PREACHED IN THE CHAPEI. OF THE UNITED STATES 
MILITARY ACADEMY, 

June 11th, 18413. 



ADDRESSED 

TO THE GRADUATING CLASS, 

and published at their request 
By M. P. PARKS, 



*» 



CHAPLAIN AND PROFESSOR OF ETHICS, 



NEW -YORK. 
Printed by A. G. Powell, 

NO. 29 ANN-STREET. 
184:3. 



•X 7///* 




^"^ 






U. S. Military Academy, 

West Point, N. Y. June 12, 1843. 

Dear Sir: — 

We, the undersigned, in behalf of the 1st Class, of the U. S. 
Corps of Cadets, have the honor to request of you, for publication, a copy of the ex- 
cellent and very appropriate discourse, delivered by you on Sunday the 11th inst. 

Gratifying as is the performance of this dut)^, we confidently 
hope to experience the additional gratification of communicating to the Class, 
your compliance with their wishes. 

We have the honor to be, dear sir, 
very respectfully your ob't. serv'ts 

C. COLON AUGUR, 
W. B. FRANKLIN, 
JAS. A. HAROm. 

To 

REV. M. P. PARKS. 

Chaplain &Prof'b. op Ethics, 

U. S. Military Academy, 



U. S. Military Academy, 

IQth JuTie, 1843. 

Gentlemen : — 

The discourse, which in the name of the Graduating Class, you 
have requested for publication, is herewith submitted. 

It is perhaps due to the Institution, with which we are connect- 
ed, if not to myself, to state that it was thrown off in one morning, with very little 
premeditation, and as fast as my amanuensis could write. As a composition, 
therefore, it has no merit, for I have not been able to correct it, and now, there is 
no time, ' Believing, however, that it does contain some wholesome advice, by 
pondering which, you may become wiser men, and better soldiers, I have thought 
it best not to withhold it. 

I beg you to assure the 1st Class of my lasting regards. 

That you and they, may always be found on the side of right, 
'' the faithful soldiers and servants of Jesus Christ," is my earnest prayer. 

Believe me truly yours, 

M: P. PARKS. 



i 



\ 



Exodus XXIII, 9.— "Thou shalt not oppress a strangeji; for ye know the heart 

OP A STRANGER, SEEING YE WERE STRANGERS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT." 

♦ 

This precept is founded upon one of the most universal 
laws of human nature : it is this — identity in the outward cir- 
cumstances of our being — is the most eifectual means of awa- 
kening sympathy for those like situated. If we would feel for 
others, as becomes us, as men, and as christians, we must place 
ourselves in their circumstances. We must occupy a position 
from whence we can view objects as they view them — we must 
become subject to the same restraints, feel the burden of the 
same obligations ; know, by actual experience, their trials. 
" Ye know the heart of a stranger, for ye were strangers in the 
land of Egypt." Ye have not merely seen strangers — ^beheld 
with your eyes their silence and desolation, their pining for 
want of sympathy, but ye yourselves have been strangers, and 
known the heart of a stranger — your own hearts were at one 
time, the hearts of strangers — ^ye know therefore their solid- 
tude, arising from a consciousness, that the props which nature 
had set up about them, have been removed. You therefore 
may, with reason be enjoined, not to oppress a stranger— you 



I 



*\ 



6 

know the grievousiiess of it— oppression from your liunci, should 
it light upon such as you yourselves have been, would be espe- 
cially criminal. 

It would not, as I conceive, be unworthy of this occasion, 
were I to follow up this thought, and insist upon the duty of 
showing compassion to the strangers who at this period* of the 
year are thrown upon you, and whose friendless and inexperi- 
enced condition calls loudly for sympathy and virtuous counsel. 
Ye yourselves, were once such as these — oppressed with their 
feeling of loneliness, care and anxiety, in view of the task which 
you were about to undertake. You can recollect, how very 
grateful to your heart would then have been, the slightest ex- 
pression of sympathy, the briefest word of advice and encour- 
agement, founded upon the experience of a virtuous course of 
living on the part of those who had passed the more rugged 
parts of the road upon which you were entering. " Go thou 
and do likewise." And with this single admonition, suffer me 
to draw your attention to another topic, suggested by the text, 
and not inappropriate, I would feign hope, to the occasion. 

The precept in the text is founded, we have said, upon 
that universal law of human nature, which recognises the value, 
I might almost say, necessity ^ of identity in outward condition, 
in order that we may feel that sympathy for others without 
which, we can never influence them for their good. Behold 
ho^ this law was respected and consecrated, by the incarnation 
of the son of God. " He took not on him the nature of angels 
but the seed of Abj^ahamj'^ — " he was made under the law," 

* The time when a new class, consisting ordinarily of lOO, or 120, is admitted, 



subject to the law, " that he might redeem them that were under 
the law." It behoved him to be made like unto his brethren. 
Otherwise it had been impossible for him to become a merciful^ 
as well as faithful high priest for man. He knev) human na- 
ture by becoming human. Hence he is able to succour them 
that are tempted, having himself been tempted at all points like 
as we are, yet without sin. 

This fact of human nature, viz : the effect of sameness in 
outward condition, in awakening sympathy for those whom we 
would influence, suggests to my mind several topics, which, 
with great deference, I would impress upon the minds of those 
among you, who are about to pass from a condition of subjection 
to one of authority. I say, with great deference ; because al- 
though I know, that when duty is the question, " the pulpit is 
above the throne," yet the topics upon which it is proposed now 
briefly to remark, are so foreign to the ordinary scope of pulpit 
instruction, that I assume not to speak ex-cathedra, but to offer 
my opinion, merely. 

One of the most valuable elements of that discipline, to which 
both mind and body has been subjected during the period of 
your connection with this institution, will have been thrown 
away upon you, young gentlemen, should you ever forget, what 
it is to be subject, in the minutest details of every day life, to 
the command of your superiors. You have known, these four 
years past, what it is to be commanded — ^you have found it no 
light thing to be turned about at the will of another. To have 
your own wills superseded with as little ceremony as if you 
were bereft of this chief attribute of man— to be met at every 



'8 

turn by resistless authority — to be overshadowed by the majesty 
of law, in the privacy of your own chamber — to be required to 
eat and drink, and sleep and rise, in conformity with an unbend- 
ing rule — to be surrounded at every moment, by a visible, and 
uncontrollable power, which shapes its course in accordance 
with motives which are locked up in another's breast, regardless 
of the whims and caprices of those, whose first duty is obedi- 
ence, and whose last duty is obedience, and who must either 
bend or break, under the will of their superiors — this you have 
found no light undertaking. You know the heart of " a man 
under authority " — the heart of a private soldier — you know 
the disquietude and vexation inseparable from his position — 
you have been in it. You know how much the effort of com- 
plying with the orders of your superiors would frequently have 
been aided, and your minds reconciled to your duti/, could you 
have been admitted to an acquaintance with the secret motives, 
which have made these requisitions upon you. You will, 
however, ere long, have practical proof of that, which you can 
now know only in theory ; viz : that the nature of your pro- 
fession precludes, for the most part, the possibility of accompa- 
nying commands and requisitions of duty, with any explana- 
tion of the motives, whence they originate. Remember the?!) 
to do that which is possible. Let authority be graced with 
suavity — let commands be enforced with discretion — be so 
lenient as not to be too remiss, and " so minister discipline as 
not to forget mercy." 

There is within the sphere of each one's command, room for 
the exercise of some measure of irresponsible power That is 



9 

to say, it is impossible, in the nature of things, that any system 
of regulations should be so minute, as to prescribe every word, 
look, and gesture, which shall accompany us in the discharge of 
our duty. Each is required to discharge certain well known func- 
tions, in the exercise of which he is left, necessarily, very much 
to his own discretion. Herein, I say, is room for the exercise of an 
authority, for which we cannot be held accountable — it is a 
space too minute for executive authority to apply law to it. 
Yet it is ample for the display of innumerable acts of petty ty- 
ranny. The most subordinate officer on dut}^, may tyrannize 
. as effectually over his command, as the General-in-chief, and 
with greater impunity, since that which the former does is done 
in a corner, and lights upon those, too feeble and too far re- 
moved from the source of power, to seek redress. 

It would be claiming for those, to whose authority you have 
hitherto been subject, an exemption from error and infirmity, 
which they \Yo\x\di by no means claim for themselves, were I to as- 
sume, that amid the innumerable, and often perplexing details 
of their respective commands, they have never done you injus- 
tice — that they have never required from you more than was 
reasonable, nor denied you aught that was allowable. Sup- 
posing it, then, thus to have been. You will remember, under 
such circumstances, how galling submission has proved — what 
heart burnino' s have been enkindled — -what bitterness of feelinof 
it has, for a time, infused. Let it he the care of your life, when 
once invested with like authority, that neither indiscretion, neg- 
ligence or want of spmpathy with those under your command, 
ever give rise to a like feeling, in regard to yourselves. On the 



10 

other hand, having arrived at the estate of manhood, you can 
readily understand that many of the causes of your boyish dis- 
content and vexation, were imaginary — that it is now^ "good 
for you, that you have borne the yoke in your youth " — that 
had you not been constrained in many things to which your 
wills were opposed, you had been ruined. Yet, during all this 
season of coercive measures, you still feel that it was due to you, 
that your feelings should have been tenderly regarded, and that 
every possible allowance should have been made for the indis- 
cretion and impetuosity of youth. Let that which you have 
deeply felt in time past^ be borne upon the heart in time to 
come. True, you are not destined to command boys, but men, 
.men whose infirmities are many, and whose resources against 
temptation have too often been enfeebled, by vicious complian- 
ces. Yet are they possessed of the feelings of men ; nor are 
they, any of them, altogether desperate or hopeless. They have 
still an object in living, and if not the highest and most eiirio- 
hling^ still, so long as man has any object for which he deems 
it worth while to live, it is ])ossible so to approach that man, as 
to induce him to take up with a higher, and yet higher object of 
pursuit. And I see nothing impossible in the undertaking, were 
the profession which you have chosen jpledged to a man, to the 
accomplishment of it, and had each a heart to live and labor for 
it, in his allotted sphere — I see nothing impossible in the at- 
tempt to exalt the rank and file of our army to a most respectable, 
contented and useful position in society. Let your intercourse 
with them and government over them, constantly tend to dis- 
place the too prevalent idea, that they are mere machines, to be 



11 

turned about by the word of command, and that the sole object 
for which they are taken into the service, is that they may pre- 
serve from dilapidation the lines of our national defence, keep 
in order the munitions of war, and if need require, be drawn out 
and disposed of as targets, to direct the fire of an invading foe ; 
and that in all this, the highest virtue of a soldier, consists in 
acting as mechanicall)/- as possible ; and the highest objects 
which he can propose to himself, are his rations, and drowsy 
listlessness when not on duty — let your precept and example, I 
say, displace this too prevalent idea, and substitute one more 

truthful in its stead— let them infer from all they see in you, 
and hear from you, that they are retained in service, for the 
most necessary and important purpose, of presenting, at all times 
a nucleus, about which an efficient army, may at any moment 
be formed — that in the mean time they are most honorably and 
usefully employed in preserving and strengthening those lines 
of defence which afford no inconsiderable guarantee of continu- 
ed peace — that they constitute an important conservative ele- 
ment in society, presenting a quiet, but resistless front to unbri- 
dled faction ; that, in a word, they are the preservers of 
the peace of nations, until the more perfect establishment 
of that kingdom which shall make an end of war by sub- 
duing all hearts to one Lord — let such ideas be steadily incul- 
cated by precept and example, emanating from those in authority 
— they will not be slow to perceive, that there is something bet- 
ter for the common soldier, than to " eat, drink, and be merry," 
when he can — they will perceive that their profession affords am- 
ple scope for sobriety^ fidelity and intelligence^ to find their re- 
com.pence. They can be induced, in great numbers, to propose to 



12 

themselves higher objects than the mere gratification of the ani- 
mal propensities. Let their comfort as men be cared for — let 
their wants as intellectnal men be supplied — let their needs as 
moral beings be provided for, and let such as do not repay your 
care by progressive improvement, be excluded from the profes- 
sion as unworthy of a soldier's vocation, and rely on it, I do not 
miscalculate, when I say, that our army will ere long exhibit a 
most interesting body of men, from the least to the greatest, 
which the whole nation will delight to cherish as being, under 
God, the right arm of its defence. 

It is an ancient proverb, and therefore worthy of being re- 
peated, and one which ought especially to be impressed upon 
young men, that we should despise none, neither despair of 
any. There is in every human heart, not altogether reprobate, 
a chord, which when skillfully struck, will aw^aken generous 
emotions, and revive even the expiring sentiment of virtue. 
There is too, such a thing as " stooping to conquer" "overcom- 
ing evil with good." For who can stand the "' heaping of coals 
of fire upon his head ?" Let an officer bring near him the 
most incorrigible one of all his command — let words of discre- 
tion uttered in tones of kindness and accompanied with a be- 
nignant expression reflected full in his face, prove to him that 
*' he knows how to have compassion upon the ignorant and 
them that are out of the way" that, he can, and does sympa- 
thize with them, even in their unsuccessful attempts, " to re- 
fuse the evil and choose the good" — let him repeat the effort 
again and again — it would be a thing to be wondered at, if he 
did not rescue that man from his vices. 



13 

Set before you, my young friends, the example of the Saviour 
of the world. Behold how purity, can stoop to confer with im- 
purity. See in his life with what intensity it is possible to 
hate vice, and at the same moment, to have compassion upon 
the vicious. " Woman where ^re those thine accusers ? hath 
no man condemned thee ? She answered. No man, Lord. 
Then said Jesus unto her, Neither do I condemn thee : go, and 
sin no more," Believe me my young friends, the secret of that 
moral power whereby alone we can effectually influence, 
for their good, those under our command, is to be found in 
these two elements — intense hatred for their vices, and intense 
compassion for the vicious. Let this appear in all our inter- 
course with them—let that intercourse be frequent and clothed 
in the aspect of strictness and compassion, reason and equity — 
ourselves examples of that which we require from others, and 
it is incredible to what a degree of self respect and efliciency 
we may exalt those under our command : especially, when 
aided by the most perfect form of government on earth, that un- 
der which you have chosen to live. 

I need not say that the exercise of a command, upon such 
principles, and under the influence of such motives as have 
been just hinted at, calls for rare qualifications, in those invest- 
ed with authority. Knowledge of one's self, extended observa- 
tion, self-discipline, high intellectual culture, studious habits 
rigorously adhered to, as being indispensable to continued men- 
tal vigour — all these are indispensable to him who would exer- 
cise his authority efficiently for the good of others. But more 
than extended knowledge, and mental vigour is needed. That 
control of our own passions, which is indispensable to a " right 



14 

judgment in all things"— lliat patient attention to the claims of 
the least as well as the greatest, and to those claims which not 
only law^ but equity^ and even courtesy require us to respect — 
these attributes of a virtuous commander, cannot be attained 
unless we realize at all times, that ?re, ourselves, are under au- 
thorit}^, as well as in command — that while we are holding 
others accountable to us, we ourselves are far more fearfully 
held accountable to one, with whom is no respect of persons. 
This continual remembrance of God's presence, and of our no- 
thingness in his sight, is indispensable^ not only to the rightful 
exercise of authority, but as a means, also, of counteracting that 
most subtle and inveterate tendency of power, to corrupt its 
possessor. So intoxicating is this gift, so exceedingly difficult 
is it for us. while " saying to one man, Go, and he goeth ; and 
to another, Come and he cometh ;" to have lowly and just 
thoughts concerning ourselves— that not one in a thousand es- 
capes, altogether, the intoxicating and poisonous effects of that 
precious thing, poiver. 

Nor need any hope to escape, unharmed, from the exercise of 
so excellent an endowment, who does not fervently pray to 
God, through Jesus Christ, to make hiin " lowly in his own 
eyes,-' and teach him to " esteem others better than himself.-' 

It may well then be conceded, that to expect 37'ou to exercise 
your respective commands upon such principles, and with such 
moderation and equity as we have insisted on, is to expect 
much. But is it, my young friends, too much to expect from 
you 7 Have you not been acquiring these several elements, so 
essential to all virtuous exercise of authority, from the day on 



15 

which you entered this Institution? Has not every lesson of 
self-denial, every hour of thoughtful investigation, every active 
duty, had for its object, the conferring upon you these high 
qualifications, previously to conferring upon you authority to 
govern men. And now that you have actually passed through 
the several trials to which you have been subjected— trials un- 
der which so many have failed — now that you are here, hav- 
ing actually reached the goal, for which you started, is it too 
much to expect that you should " continue according to this 
beginning ?" 

Is it too much to expect that these rugged habits of self-denial 
in your style of living, laborious attention in investigating, 
promptitude in acting, and method withal — is it too much to 
hope that you will cherish these habits as an invaluable legacy, 
and hold them fast until they become a second nature ? In such 
a career, who shall measure your success ? With God's bles- 
sing upon you, why should not the fondest hopes of parents and 
friends be more than realized. That such may be the career 
of each one of you is my earnest prayer, to which, I am sure, 
all who hear me, are ready to respond, amen. Only be patient 
and steadfast in that career of virtuous endeavor, which you 
have proposed to yourselves in those sacred moments when con- 
science has asserted her supremacy, and more than you have 
ever dared to hope, may be realized. To this end, before all 
things fear God; next, see that ye '' hate the thing tijat is evil '' 
— know no rivals — have few confidants. The man whom you 
have pi^oved and ventured to call jour friend, "grapple to your 
bosom with hooks of steel." Bind your enmities and jealousies 



16 

about you, with a rope of sand. " Let all the ends thou aimest 
at, be thy God's, thy country's and thy honor's." Then it mat- 
ters not whether the grave which shall cover thee when thy 
work is done, be lost to human view or no, since a more endur- 
ing monument than marble pile or column, shall be thine — thy 
deeds of worthy which shall be had in everlasting remembrance, 
even as thy name^ which shall be blotted, never ^ from the book 
of God's remembrance. 



li 



u 




VALLEY OF VISION; 



OB 



THE DRY BONES OF ISRAEL REVIVED 

AN ATTEMPTED PROOF 
(From Ezekiel, Chap, xxxvii. 1-14) 

OF 
THE RESTORATION iLMD CONVERSION 

OF THE JEWS. 



BY GEORGE BUSH, 

PBOFESSOR OF HEBREW, WEW-TORK CITT ONIVER3ITT. 



NEW-YORK : 
8AXTON & MILES, 205 BROADWAY 



MDCCCXLIV. 



.\^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by 

GEORGE BUSH, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York. 



^"^ 

^^t 



^'^ 



EXPOSITION OF EZEKIEL, Chap, xxxvil. 1-14. 



THE VISION 



1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in 
THE Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of 

2 THE VALLEY WHICH WAS FULL OF BONES, And CAUSED ME TO PASS 
BY THEM ROUND ABOUT : AND BEHOLD THERE WERE VERY MANY IN 

3 THE OPEN VALLEY ; AND LO, THEY WERE VERY DRY. AnD HE SAID 
UNTO ME, Son of man, can these BONES LIVE ? AND I ANSWERED, 

4 Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy 
UPON these bones, and say unto them, ye dry bones, hear 

6 THE word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these 
BONES, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye 

6 SHALL LIVE *. AmD I WmL LAY SINEWS UPON YOU, AND WILL BRING 
UP FLESH UPON YOU, AND COVER YOU WITH SKIN, AND PUT BREATH 
IN YOU, AND YE SHALL LIVE, AND YE SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE 

7 Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded : and as I prophe- 
sied, THERE WAS A NOISE, AND BEHOLD A SHAKING, AND THE BONES 

8 CAME TOGETHER, BONE TO HIS BONE. AnD WHEN I BEHELD, LO, 

the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin 
covered them above i but there was no breath in them. 

9 Then said he unto me. Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son 

OF MAN, and say TO THE WIND, ThUS SAITH THE LORD GoD : CoME 
FROM THE FOUR WINDS, BREATH, AND BREATHE UPON THESE SLAIN, 

10 THAT THEY MAY LIVE. So I PROPHESIED AS HE COMMANDED ME, 
AND THE BREATH CAME INTO TJfEM, iND THEY LIVED, AND STOOD UP 

11 UPON THEIR FEET, AN EXCEEDING GREAT ARMY. ThEN HE SAID 
UNTO ME, Son of man, these bones are the whole HOUSE OF 

Israel : behold, they sat. Our bones are dried, and our hope 

12 is lost : we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy 

^ AND say unto them, ThUS SAITH THE LORD GoD J BeHOLD, MY 

V people, I WILL OPEN YOUR GRAVES, AND CAUSE YOU TO COME UP 

J OUT OF YOUR GRAVES, AND BRING YOU INTO THE LAND OF ISRAELo 






11 THE VISION. 

13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened 

YOUR graves, MY PEOPLE, AND BROUGHT YOU UP OUT OF YOUR 

14 GRAVES. And shall put my' Spirit in you, and ye shall live, 
and i shall place you in y'our own land : then shall ye know 
that i the lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the 
Lord. 



PREFATORY REMARKS 

No one of the ancient prophets has more explicitly announced 
the restoration of Israel, in the latter days, than Ezekiel. How- 
ever large a proportion of his oracles is devoted to the fortunes of 
his people during the period of their captivity in Babylon and their 
subsequent return to their own land, it has almost never been 
doubted by commentators that the closing chapters of his book 
refer to their ulterior destinies, in a remote period of the Christian 
dispensation. Even when it is granted that there is a primary allu- 
sion to the restoration from Babylon, still the admission is freely 
made that there is at the same time an involved and inner reference 
to a final recall of the Jewish race from their prolonged dispersion 
among the nations, and their reinstatement in the land of their cov- 
enanted heritage. But it may safely be affirmed that this event is 
announced in many passages not as the secondary, but the primary 
burden of the prophet's oracle, and the chapter immediately pre- 
ceding the present J viz, the thirty -sixth, is among the most distin- 
guished of this class of predictions. Its grand scope is to announce, 
under the form of a bold apostrophe to the mountains, hills, rivers, 
and valleys, of the land of Israel, the return and resettlement of the 
exiled tribes all over the length and breadth of the desolate wastes 
and the forsaken cities, which ^^ad been so long " a prey and a 
derision to the residue of the heathen roimd about." In a tone of 
burning rebuke against the proud usavpers who had exulted in their 
possession of the " ancient high places " of the chosen race — who 
had, " w'ith the joy of all their hearts and with despiteful minds," 
appropriated the hallowed territory to themselves — the Most High 
addresses the desolate soil itself, and declares that the period 



Prefatory RemarJcs, iii 

of its barren sabbatism is drawing speedily to a close, that it 
shall be redeemed from its dreary depopulation, and shall bear 
the shame of the heathen no more. " Behold, I am for you. 
and I will turn you, and ye shall be tilled and sown. And I will 
multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it ; and 
the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded ; and 
I will multiply upon you man and beast ; and they shall increase 
and bear fruit ; and I will settle you after your old estates, and I 
will do better unto you than at your beginnings; and ye shall 
know that I am the Lord. Yea, I w^ill cause men to walk upon 
you, even my people Israel ; and they shall possess thee, and thou 
shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more thenceforth 
bereave them of men." 

This is no other than the definite form of the purposed fulfilment 
of the promise elsewhere recorded, " And I will remember the 
land ; " and while, on the one hand, the language is of ruch a 
nature as absolutely to forbid any kind of spiritualizing interpreta- 
tion, so, on the other, the obvious purport of several of the clauses 
goes to ascertain the time of the accomplishment as utterly incom- 
patible with that of the literal return from Babylon under the 
decree of Cyrus. The announcements bear nothing more unequivo- 
cally on their face, than that this re-establishment in the land of 
Canaan shall hejinal and permanent. It shall be succeeded by no 
subsequent rooting out and dispersion ; '' Thus saith the Lord God, 
Because they say unto you. Thou land devourest up men, and hast 
bereaved thy nations ; therefore thou shalt devour men no more, 
neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord God. Neither 
will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any 
more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, 
neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the 
Lord God," We do not see how any thing can be more express 
than this. If words have meaning, it certainly assures us that the 
return predicted is not to be followed by disasters to the inhabitants 
such as the land had witnessed for ages before. Yet what fact is 
more notorious than that subsequent to the return from Babylon the 
land has again been emptied of its occupants — that they have 
wandered as strangers in every clime — and that the hostile hoof of 
Arabian and Turkish coursers has bruised the flowerets of Esdraelon 



iv Prefatory Remarks. 

and trampled in the dust the rose of Sharon and the lily of the 
valley ? We are, therefore, as we conceive, inevitably shut up to 
that construction of the prophecy which makes its fulfilment still 
future. That land of hallowed memories is yet to receive again 
its ancient tenants, and to yield its teeming riches to the old age of 
the same people whose infancy w^as nurtured upon its maternal 
bosom. The tears of a profound and heart-stricken penitence are 
yet to mingle with the dews of Hermon in fertilizing its barren 
vales and its deserted hill-tops. The olive and the vine shall again 
spread their honors over the mountains once delectable, but now 
desolate, the corn shall yet laugh in the valleys where the prowling 
Bedouin pitches his transient tent — and joyous groups of children, 
the descendants of patriarch fathers, shall renew their evening 
sports in the streets of crowded cities, where now the ruinous heaps 
tell only of a grandeur that has passed away. 

It is with the prophetic intimations of these events that the 
XXXVIth chapter is occupied, and the ensuing chapter, which we 
propose to illustrate, is to be viewed in the closest relation with 
that which precedes. Both constitute in fact one extended series 
of predictions, taking hold of the very period of time to which we 
have now arrived. The former portion announces theyac^ of the 
restoration, the latter the manner and means of it. To determine 
the era of the one, is to determine that of the other. This is to be 
borne distinctly in mind in every stage of the ensuing exposition. 
Without assuming to fix with absolute precision the day or the 
year which the counsels of Providence may have assigned to the 
fulfilment, we are still confident that we incur no hazard in saying, 
that the most accurate researches in prophetic chronology, as well 
as the pregnant signs of the times, aflford abundant warrant for the 
belief, that we are now just upon the borders of that sublime crisis 
in Providence of which the restoration of the Jews to Syria, and 
their ingathering into the church, is to be one of the prominent 
features. 

Under the full persuasion that this event is announced in the 
chapter before us, I propose to enter upon the minute exposition of 
the vision with which it opens. My design in this, is to endeavor 
to disclose, from the purport of the prophecy, the probable course 
of Providence in relation to the conversion and restoration of the 



Prefatory Remarks. y 

Jews. This twofold order of events forms the subject of the pres- 
ent emblematic prediction. They are not indeed very studiously 
discriminated in the imagery employed, and I have accordingly, in 
the course of the ensuing exposition, spoken of them in terms that 
do not perhaps very accurately distinguish the one from the other. 
They are evidently designed, by the Spirit of inspiration, to be 
viewed in very intimate relation with each other, though it cannot 
be doubted that, in the order of occurrence, the return to Palestine 
"will, as to the bulk of the nation, precede their ingrafting into 
Christ. If I have not mistaken the genuine drift of this predic- 
tion, it details more strikingly and precisely the order of events 
which is to usher in the grand result, than the Christian world have 
for the most part supposed ; and if the progress of the commentary 
shall suggest new and interesting views of duty on the part of 
Christians, in reference to this desired consummation, the object 
will at once have approved itself abundantly worthy of all the 
labor expended upon it. 

The chapter consists of two distinct visions, the first respecting 
the dry -bones in the valley, the other respecting the junction of the 
two sticks into one, indicating the union of the two houses of Judah 
and Israel after their return to their own land. It is to the consid- 
eration of the first of these that the following pages are devoted. 
The burden of this vision is so strictly defined by Jehovah himself, 
as intended to set forth, in a figurative way, the restoration of Israel 
from their long dispersion and captivity, from their political degra- 
dation and moral death, that I have not deemed it expedient to 
dwell upon those spiritual or christianized applications of it, which 
have been usual in all ages. The imagery employed undoubtedly 
possesses a striking inherent adaptedness to illustrate certain 
prominent features in the native condition of man, and to set off 
with signal effect the display of that omnipotent grace which can 
alone triumph over the deadness of the sinner's heart, and awake 
him to the appropriate functions of spiritual life. We deem it 
entirely according to the analogy of the sacred writers themselves 
to make such an accommodated use of the striking symbolical 
scenery of Scripture, while at the same time it cannot be doubted, 
that the tendency is to cause the interpreter to lose sight of the 
primary drift of such representations, and to make that sense sub- 



vi Prefatory Remarks. 

ordinate which is in truth principal and paramount. So it cannot 
be questioned that many of the symbolic shadows of the Apocalypse 
are often employed in references foreign to the original scope of 
the inditing Spirit, although the doctrinal positions which they are 
brought to establish may be in themselves true. Thus, for instance, 
when the words — " the smoke of their torment ascendeth forever," 
— are understood of the punishment of the wncked in hell, although 
this may be in itself the fact, yet it is certain that this is not the 
primary purport of the passage, which alludes to the doom, not of 
the lost portion of the race at large in another world, but of a cer- 
tain antichristian powder in this. Other instances of a kindred 
character might easily be cited. 

I trust, then, that it will not be attributed to any overlooking or 
disesteem of this mode of interpretation, that I have seen fit to con- 
fine myself exclusively to what the Holy Spirit has himself desig- 
nated as the true meant design of the present mystic procedure. 
'^ Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole 
house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our 
hope is lost : we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy, 
and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, 
I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your 
graves, and bring you into the land of Israel," &c. This declara- 
tion of the burden of the vision is too unequivocal to allow of 
doubt respecting it. By it every just exegesis must necessarily be 
governed. The only question of which the matter can admit is, 
in respect to the time when the predicted restoration is to be under- 
stood as taking place; whether it was the return from Babylon, or 
a similar event yet future. On this head we have adduced the 
grounds of our belief in a preceding paragraph. We are, for our- 
selves, satisfied of the futurity of the accomplishments here shadow- 
ed forth, although persuaded that the period is at hand when their 
incipiency is to be anticipated ; and we look upon this and every 
kindred attempt at the thoroughgoing exposition of this class of 
prophecies, as themselves among the significant indicia of their 
speedy fulfilment. It will be seen, if our ensuing exposition is 
built upon good grounds, that whoever rightly unfolds the prophe- 
cies respecting the restoration of Israel, is in fact prophesying over 
the dry bones of the valley of vision. 



Prefatory Remarlcs. vii 

It is obvious that in this, as in every other region of biblical 
inquiry, our conclusions are of no value except so far as they are 
sustained by a fair and unimpeachable exegesis of the sense of the 
original. I shall therefore deem no apology necessary for the 
array of the Hebrew text, with that of several of the ancient ver- 
sions at the head of ray expositions. The Scriptural argument 
\vhich I design to present, frequently rests, in some of its important 
points, on the just application of single words and phrases, and this 
can seldom be compassed without exhibiting the usus loquendi of 
the sacred writers in their own language. Adequate translations, 
however, accompanying the originals, will put the mere English 
reader nearly on a level with the learned Hebrician as to advantage 
in understanding the force of terms. 

For the sake of my less literate readers I may observe in regard 
to these versions, that the Greek is that of the Septuagint or Seventy, 
so called from its being said to have been accomplished by seventy 
individuals appointed by Ptolemy, King of Egypt, for the purpose. 
The word Tar gum signifies interpretation. The Tar gum of Jona- 
than is an ancient paraphrase made in the Chaldee language by a 
person of that name, and published, together with the Latin, Greek, 
Syriac, and Arabic, in the Polyglot Bible of Walton. It is very 
free, but throws occasionally important light upon the meaning of 
the prophets, especially by translating the language of symbols into 
a simple and more literal diction. Of this I have deemed it suffi- 
cient to give an exact rendering, without inserting the original. — ■ 
The Vulgate is the usual designation of the Latin version of Jerome. 



THE PROPHECY, 



VERSE I. 



HEB. 



tjin^ ^pn^pi'i rfn;^ n^ii 

T -: T •• : • : t': • — 

GR. OF LXX. 

1^ Km iysvEzo in if^s ieiq'Kvqiov, 
xc£t i^TJyaysfA.8 iv 7ivevfA,aziKvQiog, 
xal E&TJX8 jM£ iv fiBGqt rov Tzediov, 
xal rovzo tjv fisazov oazecov a.vd^qm- 

TtlVCOV. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. 

The spirit of prophecy from be- 
fore the Lord settled upon me, and 
he brought me in the spirit of pro- 
phecy which had settled upon me 
from before the Lord, and placed me 
in the midst of a field which was full 
of the bones of men. 



ENG. VERSo 



The hand of the Lord was upon 
me, and carried me out in the Spirit 
of the Lord, and set me down in the 
midst of the valley which was full 
of bones. 



ENG. VERS. 



And the hand of the Lord was 
upon me, and the Lord brought me 
out in spirit, and placed me in the 
midst of a plain, and this was full of 
human bones. 



VDLG. VERS. 

Facta est super me manus Do- 
mini, et eduxit me in spiritu Domini ; 
et dimisit me in medio campi, qui 
erat plenus ossibus. . 



COMMENTARY. 

The hand of the Lord was upon me. Heb. nin*! "i^ ^'b'^ ^^'^.^^ 
The usage Avhich employs " hand of the Lord" for " power of the 
Lord," or supernatural illapse of the Divine Spirit upon the mind of 
the prophet, is of frequent occurrence with the sacred writers. 
Thus ch. 33. 22, " Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the 
evening." Ch. 40. 1, " In the self-same day the hand of the 
Lord was upon me, and brought me thither." The Targum of 
Jonathan, given above, discloses its true import ; " The spirit of 
prophecy from before the Lord settled upon me." The precise 
manner in which this influence was exerted upon the prophets, it 
is not necessary to determine. They were, by a supernatural 
power, brought into an entranced condition similar to that of Paul, 
when he says of himself, that he was caught up into the third 
heaven, and knew not whether he was in the body or out of the 
body. 



2 The Valley of Vision. 

And carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord. Heb. "'SX^'Si^i 
nirr^ ni^in. The grammatical construction is here subject to some 
doubt. According to our version, which is derived from the Lat. 
Vulg., it is the hand of the Lord which leads the prophet forth, but 
this does violence to syntax, as it makes " hand " to be both 
masculine and feminine in the same verse. The Greek, doubtless, 
represents the true construction of the original; -auI i^/jyayt fxE iv 
nvEvfjiati y-vQiog, and the Lord led me out in Spirit. This the 
Hebrew will readily admit, and indeed the position of the accents 
requires it ; " The Lord carried me out in spirit." Here, again, 
we have the true clue to the sense afforded in the version of the 
Targum : " And he led me forth in the spirit of prophecy which 
had settled upon me from before the Lord." It w^as not a real but 
a mental leading forth to the scene of the vision. Such an 
influence came upon him as to transport him in spirit to the place 
described. It is the usual phraseology for expressing the condition 
of prophetic ecstasy or trance, in which the subject is often m 
body in one place and in spirit conveyed to another. In this pecu- 
liar psychical state, the laws of which are but imperfectly under- 
stood, the unreal becomes to the beholder for the time real, and he 
is surrounded by scenery which is to him invested with the charac- 
ter of bonafde existence, and which in his waking moments, and 
in his normal state, he describes just as it was presented to his 
mind's eye. This entranced condition seems to have been repeat- 
edly the lot of Ezekiel, in the course of his discharge of the pro- 
phetic functions to w^hich he was called. Thus, ch. 8. 1 — .3, 
" And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the 
fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of 
Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon 
me. Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire : 
from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire : and from 
his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the 
colour of amber. And he put forth the form of an hand, and took 
me by a lock of mine head ; and the spirit lifted me up between 
the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to 
Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the 
north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, w^hich pro- 
voketh to jealousy." So again, ch. IL 24, " Afterwards the 
spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God 
into Chaldea, to them of the captivity." 

Altogether similar was the state into which Daniel and John 
were brought in the reception of these divine communications which 
were made to them relative to the future destinies of the church and 
the world ; nor do we suppose that eminently good men in other 
ages ^have been wholly strangers to supernatural illapses very 



'^: 



Exposition of Ezekiel xxxv'n. 1-14. 3 

nearly akin to those of the prophets. That this state has often 
been simulated by religious enthusiasts, and bold claims put forth 
to extraordinary revelations, which were prompted solely by a spirit 
of delusion, must indeed be admitted ; but this is not sufficient to dis- 
prove the fact, that genuine influences of this nature are occasionally 
vouchsafed to the pious in all periods of the church. The spurious 
and the counterfeit rather argues the existence of the true and the 
real, and the fact that Satan may transform himself into an angel 
of light does not invalidate, but rather confirms, the doctrine that 
there are angels of light whom he would fain personate. The 
source of such alleged spiritual phenomena must be judged of by 
their accordance with the general tenor of Scripture, and by the 
practical teachings and deportment of those who lay claim to them. 
Nothing of this nature must be admitted for a moment to be of God 
which in any manner goes to contravene or supersede the obvious 
import of the written word ; and in the case of the prophets, it is 
probable that a certain ineffable self-evidencing power went with 
the disclosures accorded to them, which put their divine origin 
beyond question. 

^nd set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of 
hones. The original word for set down (^1'^?^) signifies properly to 
cause to rest, and implies a gentle demission or alighting, as from 
an aerial flight. It would seem that the prophets in their ecstasy 
conceived themselves to be borne by a sailing motion through the 
air, and the term here employed is peculiarly appropriate to the 
easy and gentle lighting down of a winged being from the atmos- 
phere. Thus, ch. 40. 2, " In the visions of God brought he me 
into the land of Israel, and set me ('^in'^??! (^nd made me to rest) 
upon a very high mountain." This was a similar transportation 
in the spirit to that which we are now considering.~The Heb. 
fi>^ps, from >;5a to cleave, has primarily the signification of valley, 
as formed by the cleaving of mountains, but its more frequent sense 
is that o^ plain {Ttediov), as rendered by the Greek and Syriac. The 
Arabic has solitude or desert. The Heb. usage w^ill be seen from 
the following examples. Gen. 11. 2, "And it came to pass, as 
they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain (f^^'ps) in the 
land of Shinar." The site of Babylon is well known to be an 
extensive plain. If we suppose a primary allusion in the prophecy 
to the condition of the Jews in Babylon, the propriety of the pro- 
posed rendering is still more apparent. So, Ezek. 3. 22, 23, 
"And the hand of the Lord was there upon me; and he said unto 
me, Arise, go forth into the plain (ni^'pa), and I will there talk with 
thee. Then I arose, and went forth into the plain (ns'pa) ; and 
behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw 
by the river of Chebar : and I fell on my face." This is probably 
the import of the term in the present connexion. The " bones '' 



4 The Valley of Vision. 

spoken of are not expressly said to have been human bones, but 
this is the natural inference, and such is the actual rendering of 
both the Chaldee and the Greek. These bones, as if the remains of 
numerous unburied corses, were strewed in every direction over the 
surface of the plain, and in the niidst of them the prophet is in 
imagination set down. 

VERSE II. 
HEB. ENG. VERS. 

il'^^D i^nD Dn^bS' ^5^^'^2?!n^ And caused me to pass by them 

' "^ • •■ , ••• ••-•• •-^•.-.v: round about ; and behold i/iere 'i/;ere 

n^p^n ^DS'D^IX^ tfO!^ nStl'l very many in the open valley ; and 

\ "iK'j niiD^-' nrh ^''' ^^'y '^^''^ ^^^^ '^''^• 

GR. OF LXX. ENG. VERS. 

Kai TTBQi'iyayi fis stz avra ^"d he led me round about in 

wxXo&EV xwloi, aal i8ov nolla f^peated circles upon them, and be- 

^ Jik^^. ^ ^ " ' " xsf hold exceedrnff man V upon the lace 

c^^odqa mt TZQoa^mv xov Tzediov, ^f t^^ plain, and exceeding dry. 
gtjQa acpooQa. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. " VDLG. VERS. 

And he made me to pass in cir- Etcircumduxitmeper eain gyro ; 
cuit about them, and behold there erantautem multa valde super fa- 
were very many upon the face of ciem campi, siccaque vehementer. 
the field, and behold they were very 
dry. 

COMMENTARY. 

2. And caused me to pass by them round about. The original 
is here rendered peculiarly emphatic and expressive by the dupli- 
cation of the term rendered round about ; " He caused me to pass 
by them, :n^2D ^'^nt: around, around,^^ as if required by repeated 
circuits to make the most intent survey of these mournful memen- 
toes of mortality — these accumulated relics of what had once been 
a multitudinous host of Hving men, fresh in the strength of man- 
hood, acting, hoping, fearing, loving, but now sunk down to a mere 
ghastly residuum of dried and withered bones ! The image of the 
lonely traveller or the meditative sage walking to and fro amid the 
ruins of an ancient city, pondering upon its dilapidated palaces, 
tracing out the course of its crumbling walls, or deciphering its 
dimmed inscriptions, comes upon the spirit full of sombre and affect- 
ing impressions. But what is this compared with the effect of 
which we are conscious, when called to contemplate ideally a scene 
like the present 1 Here is a prophet of God standing, not in the 
midst of mouldering pillars, arches, and towers, but of the ruins of 
man himself! It is not the relics of the work of his hands which 
he surveys, but of the hand of his works I The temple may be 



Exposition of Ezekiel xxxvu. 1-14. 5 

built again — the prostrate column may be re-erected — the ivy-spread 
arch may be restored to its grandeur — but what power can re-build 
the builder ? What resurrection can aw^ait the fragments of that 
glorious structure to Avhich all other structures owe their orisfin ? 
This is the paramount prompting in the midst of such a scene. This 
is the grand problem now presented to the mind of the seer. " Son 
of man, can these bones live." 

^nd behold, there ivere very many in the open valley ; and lo, 
they were very dry. The original for " in the open valley," is 
ii:^p3!i 'i.sS) h'J, upon the face or surface of the plain. Over this they 
appeared to be spread in such profusion as to indicate that they 
might have been the bones of a numerous army slain and lying 
unburied on the spot, while the bleached and arid aspect which 
they presented evinced the long period that they had lain exposed 
to the action of sun and wind. The condition of the bones was 
such, moreover, as to indicate in the highest degree the hopeless- 
ness of their restoration to life. They w^ere not only bare of flesh, 
but void of moisture. Dried, marrowless, disjointed, and scattered 
promiscuously here and there, what could be a more expressive type 
of the triumph of death and dissolution ! What conviction more 
spontaneous than that the very dust on which they reposed might 
as soon be expected to become animated and formed into living 
men as the whitened masses spread around ? Nothing short of the 
same Almighty fiat which originally reared the fabric of the human 
body from the clay could be competent to their resuscitation. 
Nothing less than the power which forms the skeleton can endow 
it with life. So far therefore as this symbol was intended to repre- 
sent a subject upon which a reviving influence was to be put forth, 
it clearly exhibits the state of that subject as hopeless, helpless, 
desperate, to the last conceivable degree ', and nothing is more evi- 
dent than this from the question which follows. 

VERSE III. 
HEB. ENG. VERS. 

nt^^ninn D>J-p ^b^^ "^'a^"^ ^^^ he saldumo me, Son of 
T ••• : • -: T T I V - •• V - man, can these bones hve % and I 

tr\tT ^j1^ ^/^i^l nbjJ^nni/J^l^n answered, O Lord God, thou know- 

• v: T -: — T V •• T T -: T , ' 

T :tt t — 

GR. OF LXX. ENG. VERS. 

Kal eItts TTQog {xs/Tis avd-Q(6~ And he said unto me, Son of 

Tiov, El ^msrai ta oare'a ravta ; !^^"' whether shall these bones 

/ „T_ r^ ' ' \ J / live ? and 1 said, Lord, Lord, thou 

>iac^ema,KvQie, ^VQiS^av ematri understandest th^se things. ' 
zavra. 



6 The Valley of Vision, 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. VULG. VERS. 

And he said unto me, Son of Et dixit ad me, Fili hominis, pu- 

Man, can these bones live? And tasne vivent ossa ista? Et dixi, 

I said, O Lord God, it is manifest Domine Deus, tu n6sti. 
before thee. 

COMMENTARY. 

3. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these hones live ? That 
is, can they live again, can they be revived ? Dost thou deem it 
possible that such an event can occur ? Such is the genuine force 
of the original. The Hebrev^ n^n, to live, imports in frequent con- 
nexions to live again, to he revived. The same is the force of the 
Greek t,a^ in the following and numerous other instances : Mat. 
9. 18, " My daughter is even now dead ; but come and lay thy 
hand upon her, and she shall live (^^/jostai) ;" i. e. shall live again. 
John 5. 25, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and 
now is, Vv'hen the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and 
they that hear shall live {^rj(jovrai) ;'' i. e. shall be revived, or 
quickened. John 11.25, "He that believeth in me, though he 
were dead, yet shall he live {t,rioEtai) ; " i. e. shall live again. The 
more usual term for expressing this idea is ava'C^ao), to revive^ but 
L,a(a is employed in the same sense, and this sense it has in Rev. 
20. 5, " And the rest of the dead lived not again (oi'x e^tjaav) till 
the thousand years were finished," w^here many copies exhibit a 
corrupt reading, avs^'^aav. The question is proposed to the prophet 
merely for the purpose of exciting attention and putting his mind 
into a posture that should enable him to appreciate more ade- 
quately the immense display of power which the emergency de- 
manded. This is, in repeated instances, the design of the interro- 
gations propounded by God to his servants. He asks, not to 
inform himself, but to inform them. A sluggish, inobservant state 
of mind is eminently unsuited to the striking and gracious exhi- 
bitions of the divine glory, and therefore he usually sees fit to 
dissipate all torpor and awaken a vivid attention before manifesting 
his might. The response of the prophet — " Lord God, thou 
knowest " — implies a becoming recognition of the resources of 
omnipotence. It is as if he had said, " 1 am a child, a simpleton, 
a fool. To human view such an event would seem impossible. 
But I know that thy power is commensurate to thy purposes, and 
thy purposes are known to thyself. Here my answer must end." 
Both in his word and in his providence God often poses his people 
with questions to which they can return no other answer than, 
" Lord, thou knowest." 



Exposition of Ezekiel xxxv'ii. 1-14. 7 

VERSE IV. 
HEB. ENG. VERS. 

r\i^iS5^ri"bS' ^22*1 ^bj^ ^I^SI^'^I Again he said unto me, Prophesy 
. "^"= "^ ^ iL *"' ' ~ " a ' upon these bones, and say unto 

ni";2:j?n d»j^??^ ^^"^^^ ^^^0 ^'^'^"'' ^ >'^ ^°"^^' ^^*^^^ ^^^ ^^'^^^ 0^ 

GR. OF LXX. ENG. VERS. 

Kal S17T8 TTQog fjiE, 7tQoq)7]TEv<jov And he said unto me, Prophesy 
im ra beta zavzu, 'Aoi igeig av- "Jpon these bones, and thou shalt say 

ToTg, Ta oaza ^r^na, axomaza 16- "'^^°, ^^f ,^' ? ^7 ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ the 

',^ / •= 'V > word 01 the Lord. 

yov KvQiov. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. VULG. VERS. 

And he said unto me. Prophesy Et dixit ad me, Vaticinare de os- 

upon these bones, and thou shaft sibus istis; et dices eis, Ossa arida, 

say unto them, Dry bones, receive audite verbum Domini, 
the word of the Lord. 

COMMENTARY. 

4. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones. Heb. 
n^i<ri ni^a^^n h^ upon or over these bones j de ossibus his, as Junius 
and Tremellius, Polanus and Piscator, render it. He was to pro- 
phesy concerning the bones, and at the same time he was to direct 
his address to them, as if they were capable of hearing and acting 
according to the burden of the prophetic call. It is thus that the 
heralds of the gospel are to proclaim the message of heaven to their 
fellow-men, who are dead in trespasses and sins, and who, having 
eyes, see not, and ears, hear not. As to the Hebrew ^nsri, prophesy, 
from the root &<^5, to prophesy, to discharge the functions of a pro- 
phet, it is worthy of remark that the verb in this sense never occurs 
in the active but always in the passive form, as if the prophet, in 
the execution of his office, only acted as he was acted upon. The 
intimation therefore is clearly conveyed in the original word that 
the speaker was simply an organ through which the divine afflatus 
uttered itself. So in the Hebrew word 3.'2d3, to swear, the form is 
passive, indicating that a person in taking an oath was in a recipi- 
ent state, or, in other words, was adjured. This fact, in regard to 
the present term, goes far to refute the notion that the inspired 
prophets were completely i,ui juris in their predictions, merely 
uttering the product of their own intelligence going forth in saga- 
cious anticipation of the future. It is pre-eminently in prophecy 
that " holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 

But a remark of far more importance upon the term before us is 
one that regards its symbolical rather than its grammatical import. 



8 The Valley of Vision, 

We believe there are adequate grounds for understandlrig " pro- 
phesy " in this connexion as equivalent to explaining prophecy. 
But in order to evince the soundness of this interpretation, a pre- 
vious remark is requisite relative to the office sustained by the 
ancient prophets. It is, we think, unquestionable, that this class of 
men frequently enter themselves, as an essential element, into the 
symbolical transactions which they describe. In other words, they 
sustain a typical character, representing the persons of those who 
in subsequent ages should hold a relation somewhat similar to theirs 
to the mystic events of their visions. Thus, it is expressly affirmed 
by Isaiah, ch. 8. 18, " Behold, I and the children whom the Lord 
hath given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of 
hosts." This is rendered, by some commentators, "for signs and 
for types in Israel "—and the force of the original undoubtedly war- 
rants the construction. This representative character is illustrated, 
Is. 20. 2, 3, where the prophet is commanded to walk naked and 
barefoot for three years, " for a sign and a wonder upon Egypt and 
upon Ethiopia," i. e. to shadow forth symbolically the captivity of 
those nations. Of Ezekiel himself it is expressly said, in reference 
to his performance of certain emblematic actions, ch. 12. 6, " I 
have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel ;" and again, v. 3, 
he was commanded to say to the people, " Thus saith the Lord God, 
This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house 
of Israel that are among them. Say, I am your sign ; like as I 
have done, so shall it be done unto them : they shall remove and 
go into captivity." Thus too on a subsequent occasion, ch. 24. 24, 
" Ezekiel is unto you a sign ; according to all that he hath done, 
shall ye do." So also in the visions of the Apocalypse we recog- 
nize John not only as a spectator, but an actor, in which he repre- 
sents his fellow-members of the church living and acting at the 
time when the events thus scenically portrayed actually transpire. 
Upon this Daubuz remarks, that " John appears acting on these 
occasions, not in his private, but in his public capacity or office, as 
a representative of his fellow-brethren. He is ordered to receive 
the vision and to transmit it to the catholic church, to serve through 
all its periods ; and therefore he represents its members through 
every period, and on every occasion, wherein he acts in the vision." 
With these instances before us, we feel abundantly warranted in 
regarding Ezekiel as acting in a representative character in the 
present vision. The office which he is commanded to perform is 
virtually that which is to be performed in subsequent ages by those 
sustaining a somewhat similar relation to the people of God. An 
order of men whose office it is to minister to the edification of the 
church by unfolding the sense of the prophetic oracles, has always 
4 been a part of the divine economy. In the apostolic days of Chris- 



Exjposition of EzeliJiel xxxvn. 1-14. 9 

tianity We find the term prophet used in this sense, or as denoting 
those who were inwardly prompted, by an inferior kind of inspira- 
tion, to expound the purport of the Old Testament prophecies, 1 
Cor. 14. 2-5 : " For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue, 
speaketh not unto men, but unto God : for no man understandeth 
him ; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that 
prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and 
comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; 
but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. I would that ye all 
spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied : for greater is 
he that prophesieth than he that speaketh w^th tongues, except he 
interpret, that the church may receive edifying." As we find no 
evidence that there was any class of men in the primitive church 
whose stated office it was, in their religious meetings, to act the 
prophet in the sense of predicting de novo events that were future, 
though the apostles occasionally discharged this function in their 
epistles, we seem to be shut up to the conclusion, that the essence 
of their vocation was the expounding of prophecies already uttered. 
Indeed, we doubt not that the truth will be found, upon accurate 
research, to be, that the New Testament contains very little of this 
nature which goes beyond the development of the inner import of 
the ancient predictions as they bear upon the spiritual genius and 
the prospective fortunes of the gospel of Christ. Even the Apo- 
calypse itself, as is indicated by its title — " The Unveiling " — is 
scarcely any thing more than an inspired exposition of the shaded 
and mvstic announcements of the Hebrew canon. 

We cannot hesitate, therefore, to regard Ezekiel as acting on 
this occasion in a typical capacity, and as called to perform a duty 
w^hich is by no means confined to himself personally. It is one 
■which devolves also upon all those who, in the latter day, may be 
called to exercise the prophetic function, in the sense now^ explained, 
for the spiritual behoof of the churches of the faithful. As the 
prospective reach of the great burden of the vision extends dowTj 
to a distant posterity, so has the agency of the prophet himself a 
like stretch of significancy. Let it once be admitted that the event 
itself is future, and we see not how it is possible to avoid this con- 
clusion. The prophesying here mentioned is obviously related to 
the revival of the bones, as a means to an end. It is a means ope- 
rating at the very time when the eifect takes place. Is it not plain, 
then, that the futurity of the event, in reference to the stand-point 
of the prophet, necessitates the futurity of the agency by which 
the event is to be brought about ? The import of the vision is 
in nothing more obvious than in the fact, that EzekiePs prophesy- 
ing was to be the direct means of the resuscitation of the bones. 
But if we suppose the prophecy to have been uttered two thousand 

2 



10 The Valley of Vision. 

years before the event, how does it tend to produce the event, ex* 
cept by being applied at the time by those who may be competently 
endowed for the work ? 

The burden of the prophecy is the reviviscence of the dry bones. 
It is the utterance of an imperative declaration to this effect that 
produces the actual result. Ezekiel, then, has furnished his share 
of the matter of the announcement which his official successors are 
to repeat over the eostents of this visionary charnel-house or Gol- 
gotha, as the ordained means for waking the mass to life and ac- 
tion. Is it not, then, a perfectly tenable position, that it is by the 
exposition of prophecy that spiritual life is to be imparted to the 
subject of the symbolical prediction, and that whoever, at this day, 
rightly discloses the tenor of the various prophecies respecting the 
restoration of the Jews, does in fact perform the very duty here en- 
joined upon Ezekiel in his representative capacity ? The important 
practical consequences which grow out of this view of the subject 
will be dwelt upon in the sequel. 

VERSE V. 
HEB. ENG. VERS. 

nfc^IPb'nrP ^T\)^ ^/J1^ ra , ^hus saith the Lord God unto 

T :.f* T : T -: -t thcse Dones : Behold, I will cause 

'D'D^ *^^^^ ^-^ H?ri ribl^g breath to enter into you, and ye 

'^ ' " ' ' . t.Ll^k.h "i-^I shall live. 

GR. OF LXX. ENG. VERS. 

Tcc^£ li-^u KvQioQ ToTg oartoig These things saith the Lord to 
zovTOig/Idoh iyth mvoo In i'uag these bones: Behold, I bring upon 
f y ~ ' ^ ^ ' you the spirit oi hie. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. ' VULG. VERS. 

These things saith the Lord to Heec dicit Dominus ossibus his, 
these bones, Behold, I will send in- ecce ego intromittam in vos spiritumj 
to you spirit, and ye shall live. et vivetis. 

COMMENTARY, 

5. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones : Behold, 1 will 
cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. Heb. "^a^ r;p 
n^i^ tiDin i^^'2-q,behold 1 {am) bringing {or will bring) into you spirit. 
The original word (n^i*^) signifies both breath and spirit, as the ex- 
ternal act of respiration is the visible index of the indwelling vital 
spirit which animates the body. For this reason the Latin animus, 
soul, is supposed to be derived, by a slight change of form, from 
anima, breath or wind. The declaration is more fully expanded in 
the ensuing verse, where it is announced, that the infusion of the 
vital breath shall be subsequent to the reconstruction of the frame 



Exposition of Ezekiel x^xvu, 1-14. 



11 



and its investiture with sinews, flesh, and skin. The present pas- 
sage is a mere general intimation of the final issue of the divine 
potency put forth upon the bones of the vision. 



VER3E VI. 



HEB. 



ENG. VERS. 



^t^-bsn^. D^7'^ tDb^b? ^rT\'^. 
' ' : rnrr ^:^'^^ 

T : • -: 
GR. OF LXX. 

Kai dooao) iq) vfiag vevga, y.cu 
uvd^co iq) vfiag odoy.a, xai r/.- 
jEVM iq vixdg dtQi^ia, 'acu daoco 
7zrEV{A,a (i,ov stg vuug, xai tr^G^G&e, 
y.ai Yvc66£a\}s ozi iyco el^i Kv- 
Qiog. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. 

And I will give upon you sinews, 
and will make to grow upon you 
flesh, and will superinduce upon 
you skin, and will give to you spirit, 
and ye shall live and shall know 
that I am the Lord. 



And I will lay sinews upon you, 
and will bring up flesh upon you, 
and cover you with skin, and put 
breath in you, and ye shall live ; 
and ye shall know that I am the 
Lord. 

ENG. VERS. 

And 1 vWll give upon j'ou sinews, 
and I will bring upon you flesh, 
and I will stretch over you skin, and 
I will give my spirit within you, 
and ye shall live, and ye shall know 
that I am the Lord. 



VOL. VERS. 

Et dabo super vos nervos, et suc- 
crescere faciam super vos carnes, et 
superextendam super vos cutem ; et 
dabo vobis spiritum, et vivebis, et 
scietis, quia ego Dominus. 



COMMENTARY. 

6. Jlnd I will lay sinews upon you. Heb. n'-^T^ fi^^b^ ''^^^^j 
and I loill give upon you sinews or tendons. Gr. vevqa. Lat. nervos, 
of the same import. As the original root has the sense of binding, 
the word denotes those parts of 'the frame which serve ^s ligatures 
to unite and firmly bind together the whole into one compact 
structure. 

The following is the comment or paraphrase of Jerome upon the 
words before us:"" First the bones are compacted together by the 
ligaments of the sinews ; they are then filled with flesh ; and finally, 
fo^r the sake of beauty, a skin, which should veil the unsightliness 
of the naked flesh, is spread above over the w^hole." 

And I will bring up flesh upon you. Heb. ^b3 c^.^bs) ^n^sJfj^, 
and 1 iviil cause to ascend upon youfl.esh. From the particularity 
with which the several stages of the process are described, it would 
seem impossible to doubt that something analogous is to be recog- 
nized in the order of the fulfilment itself Indeed, when we turn 
from the shadow to the substance, nothing would seem more pro- 
bable than that the spiritual regeneration of the Jews will be 



12 The Valley of Vision, 

effected in a singularly gradual manner. The influences adverse 
to their recovery are so numerous and multiform, that it is doubtless 
no more than a rational anticipation, that they will come by slow 
and hesitating steps to the position which they are destined to oc- 
cupy in the kingdom of the Messiah. 

And cover you with skin. Heb. li:) ^T\t ^'^'^'^p^- The Heb. 
term D"n|5 occurs only here and v. 8, and is variously rendered in the 
versions by induce, superinduce, crust over, &c., which undoubtedly 
give the true sense, as Gesenius traces its use to the description of 
the process by which melted metals are superinduced upon statues 
or other substances. In this view* Michaelis agrees. [Lex. Suppl. 
in voc.) 

And put breath in you, and ye shall live. This crowning act 
of animation is all that remains to be done to transform the fleshly 
fabrics to living men. Till this is effected, they are merely ad- 
vanced to the condition of Adam when fashioned from the clay, but 
before the Lord God had breathed into him the breath of life by 
which he became a living soul. Indeed, the slightest glance suffices 
to evince, that the whole process here described is accurately con- 
formed to the account of the creation of Adam in the opening of 
Genesis. The gradual stages of the vivification are portrayed with 
a continual allusion to that magnificent work, and that doubtless 
w^ith the design to intimate, that nothing short of a power absolute- 
ly ci'eative was competent to the purposed result. The omnipotence 
which originally reared the human body from the dust — which 
" fenced it about with bones and sinews " — which " formed the 
eye and planted the ear " — is alone competent to build again the 
ruined fabric, and endow it with vital properties. Such an exhibi- 
tion of Divine power would indeed lay a basis for the acknovrledg- 
ment that was to follow; — "And ye shall know that I am the 
Lord." An overwhelming demonstration should thus be made of 
the wonder-working energies of Jehovah. It would be impossible 
to ascribe the effect to any other than the true cause. And at such 
an end does the Most High invariably aim in all the signal mani- 
festations of his glory. He has determined to make himself known 
to the children of men in the plentitude of his sufficiency, and in 
nothing more than in those marvellous puttings forth which are to 
result in the recovery of his chosen people from the long captivity 
to which they have been subjected for their rebellion and unbelief. 
See the confirmation of this in the Notes on v. 13. 

Those who are at all versed in Jewish lore are aware that this 
passage has been understood by many of the Rabbins as predicting 
a literal resurrection at the time of its fulfilment. Rab. Johanan 
says, that the valley here mentioned was the valley or plain of 
Dura, where the image of Nebuchadnezzar was set up, and that 



t 



f.** 



Exposition of EzeJciel xxKvii. 1—14. 13 

these bones were the bones of those who had been slain by the 
Babylonian monarch, to whom a resurrection is promised in the 
present prophecy. Rab. EHezer says, that the dead, who were 
quickened by the prophetic word of Ezekiel, stood upon their feet, 
sung a song, and died. Another Rabbi of the same name affirms 
that these quickened multitudes, after their resurrection, w^ent up 
into the land of Israel, married wives, and begat sons and daugh- 
ters ; and of one of the ancient Rabbis it is asserted, that " he 
stood upon his feet and said, I am of their children's children, and 
these are the Tephiliin (frontlets) my father's father left me." 
(Tal. Bah. Sanhed.fol. 92. 2.) But these are fictions savoring too 
strongly of Talmudical extravagance to be deserving of particular 
notice. In maintaining that the whole transaction is of a purely 
symbolical character, designed to shadow forth the future restora- 
tion of Israel, we answer both the Jews and those Christian exposi- 
tors who have adopted the opinion that a literal resurrection is at 
least latently taught in the oracle before us. It is not perhaps 
necessary to deny that there is some color of reason in the sugges- 
tion, that a fgurative resurrection supposes a literal one — an idea 
which is much insisted on by TertulUan and several of the ancient 
fathers in their comments on the passage. Still we recognize no 
necessity for such a covert allusion, nor does the question proposed 
to the prophet — " Can thesi, bones live ?" — strike as so natural 
when proposed to one to whom the idea of a literal resurrection 
was famiUar, as on the contrary hypothesis. The conception of a 
previous state of decay, dissolution and death, followed by a revival 
and recovery from that state, has nothing of difficulty in it, even 
Avere the doctrine of a real resurrection of the dead body utterly 
unknown. On the other hand, if it were known, it is not easy to 
conceive how the question proposed should have occasioned any 
surprise or hesitation on the part of the prophet ; as the revival of 
a mass of bones, heaped up in a single valley, would be as nothing 
to that power which was to raise fiom the dust of death the whole 
human race. The evident scope of the whole scenical transaction, 
as well as of the question built upon it, is to intimate the most 
unlikely deliverance from a state depressed, WTetched, and despe- 
rate to the last degree. The figures or emblems used to denote 
such an interposition of omnipotence would obviously possess a 
force and energy proportioned to the strangeness and newness of 
the process which was chosen to represent it; and such a process 
would be that which should prompt the exclamation of the Psalm- 
ist, Ps. 88. 11—12, " Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? 
Shall the dead arise and praise thee ? Shall thy loving-kindness 
be declared in the grave ? or thy faithfulness in destruction ?" 
Yet it may still be admitted that the secret meaning of the 



14 The Valley of Vision, 

spirit of inspiration may be contemplated independent of the per- 
sonal belief or intention of the writer; and if any one shall choose 
to maintain that such an occult allusion as we have mentioned is con- 
veyed in the imagery here employed, we know not how to gainsay 
it. All that we would affirm is, that it is not necessary to the 
object had in view in delivering the oracle, nor can it be demonstra- 
tively shown to be involved in it. 

VERSE VII. 
HEB. ENG. VERS. 

bip"'^H''Y'^t^'^^^ ""l^jk^^ ^jni^!ll2l°11 ^^ •'■ prophesied as I was com- 

' * ='' •'. •• ■••"'" • "^T .; manded : and as I prophesied, there 

^^^plnl "^^l]"*^?*!!^ '^i^l^^lnS was a noise, and behold a shaking, 

» fci.>,i.i.,^^„tM, ii^^k^i i«-,J«>»i.y>,L and the bones came together, bone 

GR. OF LXX. ENG. VERS. 

Kal TTQOScpriTEvoa y.a&ag irszei- And I prophesied as he com- 

laTo fior aal lyhezo iv tc5 e^js manded me ; and it came to pals 

TTQowmemai, -Aai idov dsiauog, y.al ^^ ^ prophesied, and behold a shak- 

^ ^ / \ , ~ t , ^ y ing, and he brought together the 

TZQoarr/ayeja oaiajy.aregov nqog ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^ his fitting. 

niv aQfionav avrov. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. VULG. VERS. 

And I prophesied as was com- Et prophetavi sicut praeceperat 
manded me, and there was a voice mihi ; factus est autem sonitus, pro- 
as I prophesied, and behold a shak- phetante me, et ecce commotio ; et 
ing, and the bones approached each accesserunt ossa ad ossa, unum- 
to his bone. quodque ad juncturam suam. 



COMMENTARY. 

7. So I p7'ophesied as 1 was commanded. Undeterred by the 
apparent hopelessness of the result, and confiding implicitly in the 
power of Him who had given the com.mand, the prophet enters at 
once upon the duty assigned him. An unbelieving spirit would 
have remonstrated upon being charged with such a strange com- 
mission. It would have brought up and pleaded the desperate 
nature of the undertaking. It would have arrayed before it the 
manifold impossibilities that clustered around the result announced. 
But nothing of this character avails with the instructed servant of 
the Most High, Avho was aware of the resources of omnipotence, 
and who was familiar with the history of the divine proceedings 
towards his people in former ages. That history was little else than 
a tissue of miracles, and if God commanded, what had he to do but 
obey ? The same considerations are to be brought by his minister- 
ng servants in all ages to support their failh in the discharge of 



Exposition of Ezelciel xx's.y'u. 1-14. 15 

trying duties, against the successful issue of which reason reclaims. 
Even at the grave of Lazarus the reviving message is to be declared, 
and over the moral cemetery of sin, in which so many souls are 
entombed, the minister of life is to proclaim his vivific mandate. 

And as I prophesied, there was a noise. Heb. bip ^'I'^i. Gr. y.ai 
iysrsTo (pcovr], and there was a voice. This voice, or noise, considered 
as a part of the mystic scenery, is variously explained by commen- 
tators. Vatablus understands it of a peal of thunder, which Eze- 
kiel heard at that moment, while the shaking he interprets of an 
earthquake that simultaneously occurred. This may perhaps be 
admitted, provided we give the principal prominence to the sym- 
bolic import of these phenomena, though the interpretation is still 
uncertain. A Lapide regards it as referring to the sound made by 
the meeting and colliding bones. But this effect is expressed rather 
by the shaking immediately afterwards spoken of. As nothing is 
expressly said in the text of the source or nature of the sound, the 
circumstance is probably to be viewed rather in connexion w^ith the 
events of the fulfilment than of the representing emblems. In the 
absence of any definite intimation on the subject, it may be suffi- 
cient to understand it as indicating some aerial agitation which con- 
veyed to the ear of the prophet a vague sensation of sound, without 
any distinct vocal intonation or utterance. The gloss of Grotius 
upon the words is one that arises naturally from his view of the 
dominant scope of the vision. Conceiving it to refer directly and 
exclusively to the deliverance from Babylon, he subjoins, by way 
of explanation, the words — "significans Cyri edictum." The voice 
of the royal decree empowering the captive tribes to return and 
rebuild their temple, he supposes to be the voice which here salutes 
the ear of the entranced prophet. But as we are constrained to 
regard the symbolic scenery as having a vastly more extended reach 
of import, so are we forced to seek for a different solution of this 
circumstance of the mystic transactions. A process is here described 
which was to result in the moral quickening of the Jewish race. 
This was to be effected mainly by the agency o^ prophesying, i. e., 
by explaining the prophecies which relate tothat event. The sound of 
the mystic voice is heard in intimate connexion with the prophetic 
utterance. The strict reading of the original is, " And there was 
a voice in my prophesying." This does not refer to his own voice, 
but to some voice which was rather awakened as an echo to his— 
some voice that was the natural result of the oracular proclama- 
tions which he was called to put forth. Regarded in this light, 
what are we to recognize in it but the loud and spontaneous response, 
w^hich shall be heard throughout the bounds of Christendom when 
the burden of this prophetic announcement begins to seize upon 
and command the attention of the churches ? When the light of a 



16 The Valley of Vision. 

clear and convincing exegesis begins to be poured upon the Scrip- 
tural predictions of the speedy restoration of Israel, will there not 
be " a voice ?" Will not the subject awaken a universal interest 1 
Will it not become a topic which will dwell upon every tongue ? 
Will it not enter the themes of a thousand pulpits? Will it not 
form the matter of innumerable discussions through the press? In 
a word, will not a prospective event of such a signal character be 
everywhere bruited throughout the length and breadth of the Chris. 
tian world ? 

But while we are disposed to consider this as one sense of the 
voice or noise which the inditing Spirit had prominently in view 
in the words before us, w^e are still inclined to recognize another 
drift in the symbol as here employed. We have already adverted 
to the comment of Grotius, who makes the " voice " to signify the 
decree of Cyrus for the Jews' return to Canaan. We believe he is 
in error in making that event the fulfilment of the visionary pre- 
sage ; but we may still grant that the prophecy is constructed with 
an allusion to that sovereign edict, just as the process of vivification 
described alludes all along to the original creation of Adam. And 
in this view it is certainly not a little remarkable, that the term 
hip is employed in reference to a royal proclamation. Thus Ezra, 
1. 1, " The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that 
he made a proclamation (Sip 'n'^s??^, caused a voice pass), and put it 
also in writing, saying," etc. So also Ezra, 10. 7, " And they 
made a proclamation [hip ^^^'2^,'], and they made a voice to pass) 
throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the cap- 
tivity," etc. Ex. 36. 6, " And Moses gave commandment, and 
they caused it to be proclaimed {hip ^"^^'zy'^, caused a voice to pass) 
throughout the camp, saying," etc. 2 Chron. 30. 5, (6), " So they 
established a decree to make proclamation {hip ■n'^nrnp, to cause a 
voice to pass) throughout all Israel." The usage disclosed in these 
instances indicates a sense of the term peculiarly appropriate to the 
present connexion. It affords an ample ground for interpreting the 
term "voice," when used in prophetic relations, of governmental 
edicts, decrees, or proclamations. And one of the ancient Onei- 
rocritics, or dream-expounders, remarks that " if a king di earns of 
uttering a clear voice, it signifies that he shall proclaim a new lawj' 
In like manner, when it is said in the Apocalypse that voices were 
heard issuing from the throne, the import is that of authoritative 
decrees promulged by the ruling powers for the establishment of the 
church. So, again, the seven thunders utteiing tlieir voices is inter- 
preted by Daubuz of the enactments and rescripts of the various 
European monarchs in favor of the Reformation under Luther, as 
these symbolical voices denote, according to him, " the laws or con- 
stitutions of the supreme powers." With these explanations, then, 



Exposition of Ezelciel xxxvii. 1-14. 17 

as a key to the present passage, we may properly understand the 
" voice " now heard by the prophet of those edicts, statutes, and 
royal ordinances, which will be issued by the different Christian 
governments in favor of the Jews, removing the civil disabilities 
under which they have labored, promoting, in various ways, their 
restoration from the thraldom and oppression which has so long 
ground them to the dust, and elevating them to a rank of honorable 
repute among the nations of the earth. This process is already in 
train. The legislation of Christian lands is beginning to undo the 
heavy burdens which they have bound upon the necks of Jewish 
subjects, and to recognize their claims to the rights of men and of 
citizens. In England especially, the oppressive restrictions which 
formerly existed towards them are essentially relaxed, and their 
example is being followed by the governments of other nations. It 
is well known that large concessions of Jewish privilege have been 
made within a few years by the Sultan of the Turkish empire, 
where their political thraldom has ever been most signally onerous 
and grinding. These are events full of hopeful presage to the out- 
cast Israelite, and it cannot be doubted that in proportion as the 
prophetic destiny of this people is better understood, these ameliora- 
ting ordinances in their behalf will continue to be multiplied more 
and more. 

Jlnd behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his 
bone. Heb. iiJ?"^ concussion, commotion. In its primary purport, 
the term denotes the noise that would be made by the rattling of 
the bones, as they began to be stirred from their long quiescence, 
and by the collision of one against another as they came together 
each to its fellow. The uniting process is expressively rendered in 
the Greek and Syriac, " the bones came together, each to his fitting 
or juncture." A somewhat violent and sonorous clashing would 
accompany such a movement, and this idea is perhaps more obvi- 
ously conveyed by a precise rendering of the Hebrew, which does not 
exhibit even the slight distinction of a comma between the mem- 
bers of the clause, — " And there was a shaking (or commotion) as 
the bones came together, bone to his bone." The original term 
Dsn is indeed frequently used to denote an earthquake, as 1 Kings 
19. 1 1, Am. 1. 1, Zeth. 14. 5; but an earthquake, in its symboli- 
cal sense, denotes a political or ecclesiastical revolution, and if such 
a sense be recognized here, it still points to a grand national move- 
ment amont!; the Jews at the period of the occurrences here pre- 
dicted. This will be the natural, as it is clearly the purposed, re- 
sult of the prophetic agency here shadowed forth. The first effect, 
indicated by the " voice," is probably to be witnessed among Chris- 
tians. The valid and elaborate exposition of the Scriptural predic- 
tions relative to the destiny of Israel, will powerfully awaken the 



18 The Valley of Vision. 

interest, and work upon the sympathies, of Christendom. They will 
begin earnestly to inquire into the duties which may devolve upon 
them in reference to the sublime consummation that is to be broucrht 
about, and courts and cabinets will set their diplomacy at work to 
favor the designs of Providence. Crowned heads will ponder the 
burdens of the prophets, and their sovereign decretals will realize 
the thunders from the throne, whose mystic "voices" second and 
give efficacy to the inspired declarations. 

The "shaking," on the other hand, indicates the effect produced 
upon the Jews. After ages of unbelieving apathy, they will begin 
to be roused by the prophetic utterances that salute their ears. 
More effective than any direct appeals from the pulpit — from which 
they for the most part obstinately estrange themselves — the expo- 
sitions of their own prophetic Scriptures will come upon them with 
a power which they can neither gainsay nor resist. However much 
the Jew^s may be wedded to tradition, and however grievously the 
books of Moses and the prophets may have been neglected for the 
idle rhapsodies of the Talmud, yet who can doubt that the lively 
oracles, forming their canonical Scriptures, and flowing from an 
inspired source, will become the honored instrumentality by which 
their national regeneration shall be effected ? If the burden of these 
announcements were menacing and afflictive — if they contained a 
"flying roll" of curses and WTath — we might more properly doubt 
of their gaining the audience or credence of the covenant people. 
But when they are in fact freighted w^ith the promise of good — 
when their w-hole drift is to assure the Jews, upon the high authority 
of Jehovah himself, of the bestow^ment of the very blessings after 
which they have been so long blindly seeking — can the intelligent 
pondering of these prophecies fail to rouse them to an attitude of 
the most heedful regard to what is thus infallibly secured to them ? 
"Will it not cause a " shaking ?" Will it not produce a concussion 
that shall agitate the whole mass as with the throes of a moral 
earthquake ? Such unquestionably will be the result. Nor do w- e 
see room to doubt that the prominent men, the best informed of 
the body, will be among the leaders of the movement. Being the 
most familiar with the Hebrew language, they will le the best quali- 
fied to judge of the soundness of the proposed interpretations. And 
they can be reached by the press when there would be no hope of 
their coming within the sound of the voice of the living preacher. 
Tracts will be read where sermons would not be heard. In this 
way the truth will be propagated ah intra^ among themselves, though 
the first impulse may be given from without. Christian interpret- 
ers, drawn to the more elaborate investigation of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, and delving into the depths of prophecy, wall bring forth to 
the astonished eyes of their JeAvish brethren, the treasures of an- 



Exposition of Ezelciel xx^y'n. 1-14. 19 

nouncement which they have for ages overlooked, disclosing their 
future prospects as a people. They will then perceive how infi- 
nitely superior are the riches of Revelation to the contemptible tri- 
flings of the Talmud, and how madly they have forsaken the crystal 
fountains of truth for the muddy streams of tradition. Asserting 
the prerogatives of men, they will dare to think for themselves. 
" Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," and under the 
promptings of the free spirit of inquiry, they will institute a most 
rigid inquest into the grounds of that authority which has been 
claimed for those Rabbinical dogmas which have set aside the 
teachings of Moses and the prophets. This awakened impulse of 
reason will spread from synagogue to synagogue, agitating the 
entire mass with a commotion hitherto unknown to it. Rents and 
schisms will ensue, sundering party from party, eliminating the lib- 
eral from the bigoted, and drawing down the thunders of Rabbinic 
denunciation upon the §o-called innovators on the unity of the Jew- 
ish faith. Indeed, it is not too much to say that this " shaking " 
has already commenced. From different quarters of the Jewish 
world we hear the din of division. In the congregations of Eng- 
land, Germany, and Hungary, new schools are forming, and the 
adherents of the law arraying themselves, in growing numbers, in 
opposition to the blind sticklers for the traditions of the Elders. 
Even Judaism itself, the very type of every thing sacred and stead- 
fast, is giving way before the liberalizing spirit of the age, like a 
mighty bulwark which at last yields to the unceasing action of the 
billows of the ocean. In the midst of this inevitable ferment of the 
Jewish mind the exposition of prophecy will undoubtedly come 
in as a new element of disturbance, and tend still more to precipi- 
tate the Karaites from the Pharisees. The result must unquestion- 
ably be a revolution throughout the great body of Israel, which shall 
in the end elevate the Scriptures and depress the Talmud. And 
the Scriptures, the more they are studied, the more will they excite. 
A new sensation will thrill the universal mass, and the prophetic 
announcements will be the grand means of their own fulfilment. 
We can scarcely fail, from this view of the subject, to perceive 
the direction which all efforts for the conversion of the Jews should 
mainly take. It must be by the study, the exposition, and the ap- 
plication of their own prophecies, that their minds are to be arrested 
and their moral captivity brought to a close. It is in this form that 
an appeal is to be made directly to the governing intelligence of 
the nation. The time has gone by when the Christian world ought 
to be satisfied with individual conversions, here and there occurring, 
from among the obscurer mem.bers of the community. We are 
called upon to challenge the collective wisdom of the fathers of Israel 
to enter with us upon the calm investigation of the holy writings. 



20 



The Valley of Vision. 



This must be done ralber throuojh the press than throuf^h the pulpit. 
We must spread our tracts before them ; we must demand the re- 
futation or the adoption of our views of the sense of the prophets; 
we must summon them to the field of argument, and say in the words 
of the Most High to Job, " gird up now thy loins like a man ; for 
I will demand of thee, and answer thou me." Immense obstacles 
created by pride and prejudice may indeed stand in the way, but if 
there be truth in the oracles of God, the inveteracy of Jewish unbe- 
lief is yet destined to succumb to the force of evidence. Let but our 
own conviction of the high destiny that awaits them herald theirs, 
and the work is virtually accomplished. Let there be the ' voice,' 
and there will soon follow the ' shaking,' and the ' shaking' will be 
the sure precursor of the resuscitation. 



VERSE VIII. 



HEB. 



ENG. VERS. 



And when I beheld, lo, the sinews 
and the flesh came up upon them, 
and the skin covered them above ; 
but tliere was no breath in them. 



ENG. VERS. 



w Dn^b? im^ ti3:^p^> nb^ 

V T I •• — : T : T : • 
GR. OF LXX. 

Kai idov, aai. loov, ett avza 
vBVQCi y,a\ aoLQv.sg iqjvovzo, xai drs- 
^aivEv m avza d^g^iaia iTzdvco, 
'nai 7TV8VfA.a ovx ijv in avToig. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. 

And I saw, and behold, upon them Et vidi, et ecce super ea nervi et 

sinews and flesh grew, and flesh carnes ascenderunt ; etextensaest 

was stretched over them above, and in eis cutis desuper, etspiritum non 

breath was not in them. habebant. 



And I saw, and behold, sinews 
and flesh grew upon them., and skin 
came up upon them above, and no 
breath was upon them. 



VULG. VERS. 



COMMENTARY. 

8. Jind when 1 beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up 
upon them ^ and the skin covered them above; but there was no 
breath in them. Heb. tn^i. Gr. nvfv^a. The process of revivis- 
cence is as yet but piutially completed. The bones have been 
built into skeletons, the skeletons clothed with sinews and 
flesh, and the flesh enveloped in skin. But slill they are mere 
bodies, and not men. No pids^lions of life throb beneath their 
"ribs of death." No motive power resides in their inert Hmbs. 
An immense multitude of exanimate corses, they lie piostrate on 
the ground, awaiting the quickenmg fiat which can alone infuse 
into them the vital brealh, and thus complete the new creation. 



Exposition of EzeJciel xxxvii. 1-14. 21 

The symbolical purport of all this, in its application to the Jews, we 
think it not very difficult to determine. It seems distinctly to con- 
vey the intimation, that a day of small things is to mark the com- 
mencement of Israel's restoration, w'hether considered in its literal 
or spiritval bearing; for, as Ave have already remarked, we can- 
not but conclude that both aspects of the event are contemplated in 
the present prophecy. Taken in the former sense, the imagery repre- 
sents a very feeble and gradual beginning of a course of events, 
which is to issue in the most stupendous results. The dispersed and 
downcast remnant shall, one after another, turn their faces to Zion, 
and in sparse and scattered bands find their way to the land of their 
fathers. Thus shall "bone come to his bone ;" one Jew shall meet 
another, entering from different quarters of the globe upon the pre- 
destined soil of Palestine. Urged by different motives, the natives 
of Poland, Germany, Holland, Spain, Africa, and the East shall 
drop in, in scattered groups, to the cities of Judah, with the hope 
of depositing their bones in the tombs of their patriarch fathers. 

But in all this there'is as yet no striking symptom of spirituaVlife. 
Here and there converted Jews may be found of the number of im- 
migrants^ attracted perhaps by the establishment of a Judeo-chris- 
tian w^orship at Jerusalem, of which a beginning has already been 
made under the auspices of a dignitary of the English Church, Still 
they will be but '• a feeble folk," and the mass of them being actuated 
by worldly, rather than by religious promptings, will but verify the 
mystic portraiture of the vision in presenting to the Christian eye the 
spectacle of a gathered multitude of human statues formed of flesh 
and blood, but devoid of animating breath. Indeed, it may safely 
be affirmed that this has hitherto been but too faithful an image of 
Jewish conversions. Even where there has been adequate ground 
for thinking charitably of the work of grace in their hearts, still 
the predominant character of Jewish piety has been timid, waver- 
ing, and weak. It has not been a piety of life and power. No spe- 
cimen of the glowing ardor of a Paul has yet been witnessed. 
The converted Jew has seldom evinced a complete disenthralment 
from the yoke of Rabbinical bondage, even when baptized into the 
liberty of Christ. He has almost never appeared walking with erect 
front and firm tread upon the platform of Christianity. Reared 
under the unfriendly influences of the synagogue, he seems not to be 
at home in the precincts of the church. He is but slowly naturalized 
to his new citizenship, and though disposed to walk and to work 
under t])e guidance of Christian^teachers, yet there is apparently but 
little that is spontaneous and independent in the goings forth of his 
better impulses. We do not say this by way of disparagement, 
nor in ignorance of the many causes which would naturally operate 
to prevent the converted Jew from rising to the loftiest form of Chris- 
tian character. But we are safe in affirming the fact, and safe also, 



22 



The Valley of Vision. 



we conceive, in the position, that a far hipjher order of piety is yet 
to be attained and exhibited by the believing sons of Abraham. 
They are yet to come under a dispensation of the Spirit, which shall 
be one of power on a large and magnificent scale. An energy 
and intensity of life shall be hereafter breathed into their religious 
character, which shall render them the brightest lights of Christen- 
dom, and realize in their full extent the words of the prophet, 
Zech. 12. 8, " And he that is feeble among them at that day shall 
be as David ] and the house of David shall be as God." The quick- 
ening breath of the Holy Spirit is alone adequate to remove that 
moral asphyxia under which they labor. This will be the result 
of the crowning influence of the life-giving spirit here announced. 
All that has hitherto been done for them falls short of the effect that 
is yet to be produced when the dead bodies shall be endowed with 
the vital principle. 



VERSE IX. 



HEB. 



- unto the wind, prophesy, son oi 



ENG. VERS. 

Then said he unto me, Prophesy 
^ - - uiito the wind, prophesy, son of 

tj^'In^^S^ ^y^^^ ^7?"15 ^5?»7 nian, and say to the wind, Thus 
t,i,i-^vvb>. " b-Jk— h \^'^<\ h>,V^w<»"=.i— K saith the Lord God; Come from 
^^-\)^q , on;; ^.^^ ^m^ » )3 ^he four winds, O breath, and 

D^r^^'^nin "^InS^ ri^'lin ''^^ riin^l breathe upon these slain, that they 
"■ ~ * ' "" I^^' ,_ L—'L Ku_ iTfiay live. 



GR. OF LXX. 

Kai elne itQog fie, nQoq)7]tsvaov 

im TO nVEVlxa, 7TQ0(p^tEV60V VIS 

av&QKiTiov^ y.ai elnov rm TZVEVfiari, 
Tads Xsysi KvQiog, 'Eh tcjv teg- 
adqoav TZVEVfiaToov iXxi^s, y.ai ifji- 
q)V6?](yov elg tovg re^AQOvg xovtovg^ 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. 

And he said unto me, Prophesy 
to the spirit (or wind), prophesy, 
son of man, and say to the spirit 
(or wind), thus saith the Lord God, 
Come from the four spirits (or 
winds) 
they may live. 



and unto these slain, that 



ENG. VERS. 

And he said unto me. Prophesy 
upon (or concerning) the spirit (or 
wind), prophesy, son of man, and 
say to the spirit (or wind), Thus 
saith the Lord, Come from the four 
spirits (or winds), and blow upon 
these dead, and let them live. 



VULG. VERS. 

Et dixit ad me, Vaticinare ad 
spiritum, vaticinare, fili hominis, et 
dices ad spiritum, Hsec dicit Domi- 
nus Deus, a quatuor ventis veni 
spiritus, et insuffla super interfectos 
istosj ut reviviscant. 



COMMENTARY. 

9. Then he said unto me, Prophesy unto the wind. Heb. t^^'Ssri 
m^n ^.. It has been previously observed that the Heb. term 
p^Ti is variously'rendered wi?id, breath, or spirit, in different connex- 
ions. It is here the same word which is rendered in the context 



Ex_pos{iioji of Ezekiel x-iixvn. 1-14. 23 

by spirit, and it would perhaps be putting the English reader on 
the best ground for judging the true sense of the original to adhere 
uniformly to that rendering. Whether it is to be understood of the 
atmospherical element which we breathe, of the vital principle of 
the human body, of the intelligent and sentient spirit of man, or of 
the Holy Spirit of God, can only be determined by the connexion. 
How it is to be interpreted in the present passage will soon appear. 
We have already remarked that the phrase " prophesy upon the 
dry bones " properly imports, in this connexion, " prophesy respect- 
ing the dry bones ;" and a similar import is doubtless to be recog- 
nized here also, which is distinctly w^arranted by the Greek, 
TtQocpriTEvaov im to nveviia, prophesy upon or concerning the Spirit. 
The Syriac and Arabic give the same rendering. The most ample 
authority for this sense of the Hebrew particle may easily be 
adduced. Thus, Ezek. 13. 16, " The prophets of Israel which 
prophesy concerning Jerusalem, (c^d^i^'i ^x), and which see visions 
of peace,'' &c. 1 Sam. L 27, '' For this child (ntrj ^^in Ks) I 
prayed," &c., i. e. concerning or with reference to this child. 
2 Kings 19. 32, " Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the 
king of Assyria (^^i^^ *^^, bs), he shall not come," &c. Is. 19. 
11, " How say ye unto Pharaoh (•is'ia ^&<), I am the son of the 
wise," &,c., i. e. concerning Pharaoh. Examples of this usage 
might be indefinitely multiplied. The case is too clear to admit of 
doubt, that the Spirit here spoken of is to be understood of the 
Holy Spirit. Consequently the prophet's being commanded to 
" prophesy concerning the Spirit," implies his explaining those 
prophecies which relate to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God^ 
in connexion with the event here shadowed forth. At the same 
time, the tenor of the ensuing part of the verse makes it evident 
that the prophesying was in some way to be conducted in the form 
of an invocation to that same Spirit whose influences are to be 
employed in effecting the work. The grand duty enjoined in the 
words is undoubtedly that of prayer ; but it is prayer of a some- 
what peculiar character — which consists in an earnest pleading of 
those prophetic promises that assure the literal and spiritual 
restoration of Israel. One who prays for this object in the full 
faith of those predictions which announce it, may be said to 
prophesy both to and concerning the Spirit which is to be poured 
out from on high to give life to the dead. 

Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the 
wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, 
breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. The 
view w^hich we have above suggested of the import of this lan- 
guage presents a very interesting and momentous aspect of the 
whole subject. Considering Ezekiel as sustaining in this mystic 



24 The Valley of Vision. 

transaction a symbolical character, and representing the persons of 
those \vho, in subsequent ages, should be the accredited organs for 
giving utterance to the voice of the church, we are obviously 
taught that the mere argumentative development of the prophetic 
Scriptures announcing the future destinies of the Jews, is not suffi- 
cient to produce the " consummation so devoutly to be wished." 
However well adapted in themselves t(# arrest attention, and to 
awaken inquiry in the Jewish mind, the most luminous exposi- 
tions of holy writ fall short of imparting spiritual life to the nation. 
They may sow the seeds of a national movement — they may, ac- 
cording to the burden of the vision, cause a shaking among the 
dry bones — but an inwrought energy from the Holy One of Israel is 
indispensable to that moral quickening of the inanimate mass which 
is requisite to their complete vivification. This influence is to be 
secured by prayer — prayer founded upon the express promises of 
Jehovah to this effect — in a word, prophetic prayer — and this, too, 
throughout the bounds of the Christian world. The reviving spirit 
is to come from " the four winds of heaven," or from the four 
quarters of the earth, in answer to the prayers which shall be pre- 
lerred by the faithful from all the various regions of their habita- 
tion. Every department of Zion is to be enlisted in this work of 
supplication, and to contribute its respective quota of hallowed 
agency in drawing down the influences of the Spirit upon the 
morally defunct multitudes of the house of Israel. As scattered 
portions of this people are to be found in every region of the globe 
where Christianity is established, so from the Christians of every 
region are those prophetic intercessions to ascend to the ears of the 
Lord God of Sabbaoth ; and the fact that the objects of their peti- 
tions are before their eyes in all the eloquent and affecting necessi- 
ties of their condition will, no doubt, go to add an increased fer- 
vency and intensity to their suit. 

We know of nothing, then, that ought to operate with more 
imperative conviction upon the minds of Christians than the fact 
conveyed by this mystic scenery, that the regeneration of the Jews 
is to be effected mainly by the instrumentality of expounded 
prophecy and fervent prayer. These are the two great means on 
which we are to rely for the promised result. Without derogating 
in the least from the ordinance oi preaching, in its common accepta- 
tion, as a means of evangelization, we may still maintain, that the 
case of the Jews is so peculiar — the Gospel encounters in them an 
attitude of mind so unique and distinguishing — that we cannot 
anticipate those legitimate effects from that source for which we 
are authorized to look in the case of other people — a remark which 
holds true, to a certain extent, of the Mohammedans also. In re- 
gard to both there is a prior admission, through a perverse inter- 



Exposition of EzeMel xxxvn, 1-14. 25 

pretation, of' the great facts and doctrines of the Old Testament 
Scriptures. They have neither of them need, like the heathen na- 
tions, to be taught what are " the first elements of the doctrine of 
Christ," and this circumstance rather increases than diminishes the 
difficulty of bringing them to the acknowledgment of the saving 
truth of the Gospel. In this emergency, prayer is the grand resort 
of the Christian church. The arm of Omnipotence must be earnestly 
invoked to put forth its constraining power upon the people of the 
covenant ; and prayer, the texture of which is wrought of the pro- 
phetic promises of the word, will avail to secure the blessing. 
" Thou sendest forth thy Spirit ; they are created." 

' The term slain (u^hh^) is not probably intended to designate 
with much precision the manner in which the multitude originally 
came to " the dust of death." The Greek renders it simply by Tovg 
pEXQovg tovTovgy these dead, with which the Arabic agrees. It is 
undoubtedly equivalent to dead, mortuos, as Rosenmiiller renders 
it, remarking at the same time that it is parallel to the expression 
Jer. 19. 21, m-a '^is'nn the slain of death, in contradistinction to 
those slain by the sword. Thus too with the kindred term Ps. 
86. 5,*' From among the dead, like the slain (o'l^nn) that lie 
in the grave ;" i. e. simply the deceased, without reference to the 
manner in which they came to their death. 

VERSE X. 
HEB, ENG. VERS. 

^^2^1*1 *^5^^ 'nilJi^lD "^ri^msni ^^ ^ prophesied as he command- 
' T- ^T • V -:- . T* . . g^ j^g^ g^j^(j j]^g breath came into 

^b'S ^"153^^ '"i^M^'', tj^^M Dra them, and they lived, and stood up 

C^^)2 "^^12 bii?" b:- h:r% T^y"!^"^ ^'''' ^"^ """"""^^^ ^'''' 

GR. OF LXX, ENG. VERS. 

Kai jTQOscpi^TSvaa aad^oii ive- And I prophesied as he com^ 

tdlazo uoi, ^Aal eialqUev eig av- panded me, and the spirit entered 

\ ^ ~ N ^j- ^ mto them, and they lived, and stood 

^ovg to nvEviia, -Am si^n^av, nai ^pon their feet, an exceeding great 

earr^aav em t(ov Tzodav avzcov, assembly. 
tjvvaycoyr] tzoIXt] (jqjodQa. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. VULG. VERS. 

And I prophesied as he com- Et prophetavi sicut prseceperat 

manded me, and the spirit entered mihi ; et ingressus est in ea spiritus, 

into ihem, and they lived, and they et vixerunt; steteruntque super pe- 

Etood upon their feet, an army ex- des suos, exercitus grandis nimis 

ceeding great. valde. 

COMMENTARY. 

10, So 1 prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came 
irdo them^ and they lived, and stood up tipon their feef^ an exceeding 

3 



26 The Valley of Vision. 

great army. The action of the prophet in the symbolic machinery 
IS sufficiently obvious. "With the clew already obtained we pass 
from the shadow to the substance. As the duty enjoined upon him 
is really that which devolves upon us in these latter ages of the 
world, so we read in the result which crowned his prophetic prayer 
the blessing that will also follow ours. The bestowment of spiritual 
life on a large and glorious scale will accrue to the Jews in propor- 
tion as the promises to that efifect are believingly pleaded. And 
this result we suppose to be intimated in the language of Paul, Rom- 
11. 15, in express allusion to the very Scripture we are now con- 
sidering : "For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of 
the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the 
deadV^ As the same Spirit presided over the inditing of all parts 
of the inspired word, and as the New Testament is but a develop- 
ment of the interior senses of the Old, nothing is more natural than 
that a running, though often a tacit, allusion should be kept up in 
the writings of the apostles to those of the prophets. Paul speaks 
of the ingathering of Israel into the church of Christ as an exposi- 
tor of Moses and the later prophets, who have unequivocally an- 
nounced the same grand issue. It is no more then than is to be 
expected, that the language which he employs should often be such 
as to refer us at once io the terms of the original predictions, and 
when he speaks in the passage quoted of the conversion of the Jews 
as the reception of life by the dead, with what portion of the an- 
cient oracles do we more spontaneously connect it than with the 
vision of Ezekiel, where the same event is figuratively set forth by 
the resurrection of the dead to life ? 

But let us follow out the main idea a little more in detail. The 
leading intimation undoubtedly is, that the conversion of Israel is to 
be effected mainly by the bringing to bear upon this object the scope 
of the inspired predictions which relate to it. These are of a two- 
fold character. (1.) Those which announce their restoration. (2.) 
Those which foretell the outpouring of the reviving Spirit of the 
Lord upon them. It is by no means to be supposed that the pro- 
phecies of Ezekiel alone are alluded to in this connexion. He, as 
w^e have already remarked, is to be regarded as acting in this vision- 
ary transaction in a representative character. His agency fore- 
shadows that of his successors who should sustain in their persons the 
persons of the members of the church, in whose name they officiate, 
in coming periods of time, when the actual accomplishment of the 
event was to be expected. The means to be employed is the exposi- 
tion and application of prophecy, i.e. of all the various prophecies scat- 
tered through the writings of the former and the latter seers. Of these 
it is obvious on inspection that a large portion distinctly announce 
the effusion of the Holy Spirit in the latter day, and in connexion 



Exvosiiion of EzeJciel xxwii. 1-14. 27 

with their restoration, upon the house of Israel. With these dis- 
persed oracles the stewards of the mysteries of God, and those to 
whom they minister, are to become famihar, and by incorporating 
them into the substance of their prayers, are to prophesy to the 
wind, breath, or Spirit of the Lord, to form a plea which the divine 
counsels will forbid to be unavailing. In these it is undoubtedly 
true that the prophecy of Ezekiel is peculiarly rich, but the same 
note is struck, in multitudes of instances, by the harps of the other 
prophets. From the whole collectively we may adduce the fol- 
lowing as specimens: Ezek. 11. 19, " And I will give them one 
heart, and I will put a new spirit within you ; and 1 will take the 
stony heart out of their flesh, and give them an heart of flesh ; that 
they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do 
them ; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." Ch. 
36. 24 — 26, " For I will take you from among the heathen, and 
gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own 
land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be 
clean ; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse 
you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit ivill Iput 
within you.^^ Ch. 26. 27, " And I will put my Spirit within you, 
and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judg- 
ments, and do them." Is. 32. 13, 15, "Upon the land of my people 
shall come up thorns and briers, yea, upon all the houses of joy in 
the joyous city ; — until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, 
and the wilderness be a fruitful field." Zech. 12. 10, " And I will 
pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jeru- 
salem, the spirit of grace and supplications ; and they shall look 
upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as 
one mourneth for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, 
as one that is in bitterness for his first-born." 

These are among the prophetic pleadings with which the 
throne of grace is to be solicited, and the reviving ' Spirit' of the Lord 
to be invoked. It is by the citation of these and similar predictions 
that the servants of the Most High are to prophesy to and concern- 
ing the divine * wind,' which can alone blow a quickening breath 
upon the slain multitudes. The result is emphatically indicated by 
the words that follow: " and the breath came into them, and they* 
lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army," or 
as the original more expressively has it — " an army great exceeding- 
ly, exceedingly." How insignificant compared with this will be all 
prior successes in the line of Jewish conversions ! If in the primi- 
tive days of the church one Apostle could say to another, " Thou 
seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe," 
how will the heart of Christian benevolence swell to see the grow- 



.iHT' t 



28 



The Valley of Vision. 



ing numbers counted by hundreds of thousands, when "the day of 
the Lord shall be great in Jezreel ?" "Sing, barren, thou that 
didst not bear, break forth in singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst 
not travail with child ; for more are the children of the desolate, 
than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the 
place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habi- 
tations ; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes ; 
for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left ; and 
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to 
be inhabited." 



THE INTERPRETATION. 



VERSE xr. 



BEB. 



rmn '%:yi;: t^"^^"^? »i^^0 

T ;■- : • "T': • t : t: 



GR. OF LXX. 



Kcd eXaXrjarj Kvgiog TiQog fis, 
Xiy&iv, Tifi avd^QcoTTOVf tk bara 
tavta nag oiaog 'laQaijX tctij aai 
avto] Xtyovai, Ar^Qa yiyovB ta ogtol 
t^fioov, dizoXcaXev rj &Xmg TjfxwVy 
dia7ieq)CovijKa[ji£v. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. 

And he said unto me, these bones 
are the whole house of Israel ; be- 
hold, they say, Our bones are dried, 
our hope is cut off, and we have 
perished. 



ENG. VERS. 



Then he said unto me, Son of 
man, these bones are the whole 
house of Israel : behold, they say, 
Our bones are dried, and our hope 
is lost : we are cut off for our parts. 



ENG. VERS. 

And the Lord spake unto me, say- 
ing, Son of man, these bones are 
the whole house of Israel, and they 
say. Our bones are dry, our hope is 
lost, we have expired. 



VULG. VERS. 

Et dixit ad me, Fili hominis, ossa 
hsec universa, domus Israel est j ip- 
si dicunt, Aruerunt ossa nostra, et 
perit spes nostra, abscissi sumus. 



Exposition of EzeJciel xnxviu 1-14. 29 

COMMENTARY. 

1 1. Then said he unto me, Son of man, these hones are the whole 
house of Israel. In view of the peculiar and striking character of the 
imagery employed in the present vision, the reader cannot but feel 
that nothing would be more desirable than a divine declaration of 
its import ; and with such a declaration we are here furnished. 
Upon an authority perfectly infallible we are assured that the 
substance of the shadowed materiel of the vision is " the whole house 
of Israel ;" that is, the great mass, the major portion of the cove- 
nanted race ; just as Paul when he says, Rom. 11, 26, " and so all 
Israel shall be saved," means not each and every individual of the 
nation, but the bulk of it. And it is worthy of notice in this 
connexion, that it is one of the most familiar of the Talmudical 
sayings, that " all Israel hath a share in the world to come ;" i. e. 
in the Messiah's dispensation. However applicable the depicted 
scenery may be in itself to the condition in which the gospel finds 
the great mass of men, and however well adapted to represent the 
state of Christian congregations under a general dearth of spiritual 
influences, from which they need to be powerfully resuscitated, yet no- 
thing is clearer than that its direct, designed, and legitimate drift is 
to symbolize the political and moral position of the literal Israel at 
the time to which the spirit of prophecy points. We cannot con- 
ceive that the canons of sound interpretation will allow the putting 
of any sense upon the language which would preclude a primary 
adumbration of the literal house of Israel in its long continued, de- 
plorable, and apparently hopeless depression. Accordingly, if the 
literal race of Israel is here designated, it seems impossible to 
avoid the conclusion, that a literal restoration is with equal explicit- 
ness taught in the vision. Thus also Ezek. 11. 17, " Therefore say, 
thus saith the Lord, I will even gather you from the people, and 
assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, 
and I will give you the land of Israel." Again, Ezek. 39. 25- 
29, " Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Now will I bring again 
the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of 
Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; after that they have 
borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have tres- 
passed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none 
made them afraid. When 1 have brought them again from the 
people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanc- 
tified in them in the sight of many nations ; then shall they know 
that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into 
captivity among the heathen : but I have gathered them unto 
their own land, and have left none of them any more there. Nei- 
ther will I hide my face any more from them : for I have poured out 



30 The Valley of Vision. 

my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God." The 
positive assurance — " neither ^\■ill I hide my face any more from 
them" — demonstrates that the fulfilment is yet future, for nothing 
is more notorious than that the Jews have been under the hidings 
of God's face for centuries past. 

If we feel ourselves at liberty then to evaporate the solid sub- 
stances here submitted to us into airy phantoms in the alembic of 
a spiritualizing interpretation, what portion of holy writ can plead 
exemption from the same process? The Grotian mode of solution, 
■which turns the whole into an emblematic device designed to set forth 
the reinstatement of the Jews in the enjoyment of civil privileges, 
in their own land, after the return under the decree of Cyrus, though 
inadequate, may yet be tolerated as preserving the substantial truth 
of the imagery of the bones; but what favor can be shown to a 
construction that entirely merges the original express subject of 
the vision in some arbitrary spiritual creation, for which no adequate 
authority, no satisfactory reasonings, can be adduced ? To make the 
house of Israel here a typical term for the Christian church, is very 
like making the figurative resurrection of the dry bones a proof 
direct of the general resurrection of the dead. The following ex- 
tract from " Begg's Connected View," p. 19, has a pertinency in 
this relation w^hich cannot be mistaken. 

" If these predictions do not prove the future restoration of the hteral 
Israel to the land of their fathers, it may certainly be asked, In what Ian-; 
guage could such a promise be made, that would not be equally liable to 
be misapplied, perverted, or discredited ? We may as well deny the 
literal conyemon as the literal restoration of Israel — most of the passages 
which assure us of the one, predicting also the other. If it was not a figu- 
rative dispersion they suffered, neither will it be a figurative restoration 
they shall enjoy. And if dispersion was a part of the punishment of their 
national transgression, so also will restoration be obtained when forgiven 
of the Lord, and will be connected with their national repentance. And 
how wonderfully has the Lord preserved the Jews for this display of His 
sovereignty and grace ! Ahhough scattered into every nation of Europe, 
— nay, attracted into every country under heaven into which commerce 
has been introduced — and possessed, as many of them are, of immense 
wealth — they have not been allowed to become the proprietors of any 
soil. They have no inheritance in other lands, and they have always 
cherished a passionate desire to return to their own. Throughout their 
long captivity, they have been thus kept unsubjected to the influence of 
other local attachments, and in a state of constant readiness for migration ; 
and recent movements among them render it highly probable thnt the time 
of their general departure is at hand. By the dispensations of His provi- 
dence, the Lord is manifestly preparing the way for their return. In the 
plenitude of their uncontrolled power, earthly potentates may indeed com- 
bine, and, with a view to perpetuate their systems of iniquity, may create 
kingdoms at will, allot to them the territories they shall possess.^and ap- 
point the kings by v/hom they shall be governed, without asking counsel 
of the Lord, or regulating their decisions by His ' sure decree.' In ail their 



Eocposition of Ezelciel xxxvii, 1-14. 31 

calculations, Israel may not be reckoned ; in their disposal of territory, no 
portion may be assiirned for their inheritance. But the God of Jacob ' has 
purposed, and who shall disannul it?' *Zion shall be redeemed with 
judgments, and her converts with righteousness.' 'But ye, O mountains 
of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit 1o my 
people of Israel ; for they are at hand to come.' Is. i. 27. Ezek. xxxvi. 8." 

The parallelisms of prophecy are all important in any exegetic 
process. They do not always lie upon the surface of Scripture, 
like tlie bones spread over the face of the visionary valley. But 
a studious inquest will frequently reveal them, and we rejoice over 
them as one that has found great spoil. In regard to the present 
oracle, we believe it is to be brought into juxtaposition with two 
or three passages in the other prophets which are seldom viewed 
in this connexion. Of these the following stands conspicuous : 
Is. 66. 14, "And when ye see this your heart shall rejoice, and 
your hones shall flourish like an herb." The connected words 
have only to be read to convince any one that the period referred 
to is precisely that which is contemplated in the present vision, as 
it is the prediction of a day when Jerusalem, or the Jewish nation, 
is to be signally honored, and " peace extended to her like a river, 
and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream." Most inti- 
mately related to this is another passage of the same prophet, and 
referring to the same time, ch. 26. 12 — 19, where the subject of the 
prophecy is undoubtedly the Jews in the latter ages, Vitringa, 
Michaelis, and other expositors are satisfied that it does not refer 
to the period of the Babylonish captivity, though that raay have 
given occasion to the peculiar style of announcement adopted. 
After putting into their lips the acknowledgment, " Lord our 
Lord, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us, but by 
thee only will we make mention of thy name," they go on to say, 
that these their former enemies and masters " are dead, they shall 
not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise; therefore thou hast 
visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish." 
They then proceed, by way of contrasting their own more privileged 
lot with that of their oppressors, to declare in an address to the 
Most Hioh, and in the language of firm assurance, "Thy dead 
men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake, 
and sinp:, ye that dwell in dust : for thy dew is the dew of herbs, and 
the earth shall cast out the dead." This is all but universally con- 
ceded to be the foreshowing not of a literal but of a figurative re- 
surrection. Their resuscitation, as iMr. Barnes remarks, (in loc.) 
imports that " they shall be restored to their country, and be rein- 
stated in all their rights and immunities as a people among the na- 
tions of the earth. This restoration shall be as striking as w^ould be 
a resurrection of the dead from their graves. Though therefore this 



32 The Valley of Vision. 

does not refer primarily to the resurrection of the dead, yet the il- 
lustration is drawn from that doctrine, and implies that that doctrine 
was one with which they were familiar." As to the connected 
phrases Mr. B. further remarks, " they may be rendered my de- 
ceased, my dead, and will thus be parallel with the phrase, * thy 
dead men,' and is used in the same sense with reference to the same 
species of resurrection. It is not the language of the prophet 
Isaiah, as if he referred to his own body when it should be dead, 
but it is the language of the choir that sings and that speaks in 
the name of the Jewish people. That people is thus introduced as 
saying, ' my dead,' that is. ' our dead,' shall'rise. Not only in the 
address to Jehovah is this sentiment uttered, when it is said, * thy 
dead shall rise ;' but when the attention is turned to themselves as 
a people they say ' our dead shall rise ;' those that appertain to our 
nation shall rise from the dust, and be restored to their own privi- 
leges and land." 

As the imagery then of the two prophets is perfectly tanta- 
mount, we see no good reason to doubt that both predictions refer 
to the same event ; and we believe we may safely interpret Dan. 12. 
2, of the same period and the same accomplishment : " And many 
of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some 
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt ;" 
implying that that which was a national restoration to all, should 
be a spiritual resurrection only to a part. The rest, by abiding in 
unbelief, should incur a doom of woe and wrath commensurate with 
the blessings which they forfeited. The mention of the ^ dew,' as 
the emblem of the reviving influence by which the morally dead 
are resuscitated, and consequently of the Spirit of God, the true 
agent, naturally reminds us of other passages which this term is a 
connecting link to bind together in union with the present. Thus 
Hos. 14. 15, " I will be as the deio unto Israel ; he shall grow as 
the lily, and shoot forth his roots as Lebanon." This, from the 
context, can be referred to no period so properly as to the final 
restoration of Israel, as the declaration immediately preceding is, 
" I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely ; for mine 
anger is turned away from him." When shall this be realized but 
in the day of Jacob's redemption ? Again, Is. 18. 4, " For so the 
Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my 
dwelling-place (Marg. I will regard my set dwelling), like a clear 
heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest." 
This refers to the time when an ensign is to be lifted up upon the 
mountains, and the great tjumpet blown (comp. Is. 27. 13), and 
" the present brought unto the Lord of hosts, of a people scattered 
and peeled, and terrible (venerable) from the beo^inning, to the 
place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion." This is 



Exjtosition of EzeMel xxxvn. 1-14. 33 

unquestionably the future return of the dispersed of Israel to their 
own land. Once more, Mic. 5. 7, '' And the remnant of Jacob shall 
be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the 
showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for 
the sons of men." When the ' dew' of divine influence has re- 
vived them, they shall themselves become as a renovating ' dew' to 
the heathen nations, among whom they shall sojourn, and in whose 
conversion they shall be instrumental. Thus strikingly do we find 
the present prophecy ramified in its connexions with various other 
portions of the Scriptures, all bearing on the same great and glori- 
ous issue. 

Behold, they say, Our hones are dried, and our hope is lost. 
Heb. ^sn^jpn sriax, our expectation is perished. Or. aTzoXalsv ij iXnlg 
Tjficov, our hope has perished. Nothing could be more appropriate 
to express the burden of despondency which the depressed, afflicted, 
down-trodden condition of the Jews has for ages put into their lips. 
They are a people sick with hope deferred. The accumulation 
of their sufferings in all ages since the crucifixion has impressed a 
character of grief and depression upon their nation, and the tone of 
sorrow, lamenffetion, and woe, pervades all their utterances as a 
people. Continually expecting their Messiah, yet continually dis- 
appointed, they present a living image of despair. Withered, 
bowed, woe-begone, they evince an inner consciousness, which 
they do not seldom express, that the curse and blight of heaven is 
upon them. A dispirited, downcast, and mournful air, is the very 
national costume of the Jew. Wherever found they are marked 
by this characteristic, and that too just in proportion to the degree 
in which they are imbued with the true spirit and genius of Juda- 
ism, and are conscientious in the performance of its rites. The true 
devotee of the Talmud always presents the aspect of one who is 
weighed down by the yoke of ceremonies, and oppressed with the 
mournful lot of his people. He wears the demeanor of one who 
is incessantly engaged in fruitless attempts to solve the problem of 
the long-continued sufferings of his race, and the language of the 
text is the language of his condition, even when his lips refuse ut- 
terance to the despairing words. It is virtually the language which 
the prophet attributes to them in the parallel prediction already 
considered. Is. 26. 17 — 18, " Like as a woman with child, that draw- 
eth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her 
pangs ; so have we been in thy sight, Lord. We have been with 
child, we have been in pain, we have, as it were, brought forth 
wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the eartti." This 
from age to age has been the dominant mental state of these " tribes 
of the wandering foot and weary breast." That hope which comes 
to all; comes not to them, after the lapse of centuries of sore disap- 



34 The Valley of Vision. 

pointment. It has sunk to its last expiring gleam in their bosoms, 
and they find no solace in the prospect of the future. Their per- 
petual unuttered apostrophe is, " God, why hast thou cast us off' 
forever ? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pas- 
ture? — We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet; nei- 
ther is there any among us that knoweth how long." It is while 
groaning under the pressure of this calamity that the reviving mes- 
sage embodied in this prediction is to reach their inmost souls. In 
the midnight depths of their darkness this morning-star of hope is 
to arise. It is the wont of the divine benignity to take occasion 
from the extremest straits of his people to illustrate the riches of his 
grace. He that scattered Israel will yet gather him again, and 
though the mercy promised is not irrespective of their faith in the 
Messiah of the Gospel, yet their past unbelief shall not preclude the 
exercise of that sovereignty of beneficence which secures their future 
blessedness. 

We are cut off for our parts. Heb. ^ib sis'!;;;;? we are cut off for u^, 
or for ourselves. The pronominal adjection ^'\for us, for ourselves, 
seems designed to give a peculiar emphasis to the term denoting their 
cutting off. Rosenmiiller remarks that this is ofter#the etfect of the 
appending of pronouns in this manner by the medium of the prepo- 
sition b to or for. It is as if it were said, considered in ourselves — 
viewed as to our own ability or sufficiency — w^e are completely cut 
off; we lie as withered branches severed from the parent trunk, and 
have no inherent power to recover ourselves again to life and vigor. 
The language will at once clothe ilself with fuller significance when 
we advert to the true import of the original word for " cut off." The 
Heb. ^T^ properly and naturally denotes that kind of cutting which 
takes place when the branch of a tree is severed from the stock, and 
accordingly the term in that language for axe is n^T^^, a direct 
derivative from this root. The idea of pruning is one that comes 
properly under the radical, and its meta{)horical usage may be seen 
from the following examples : 2 Chron. 26.21, "And Uzziah the king 
was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several (se- 
parated) house, being a leper ; for he was cut off (">tri:) from the 
house of the Lord." Is. 53. 8," For he was cut off ("I';?) from the 
land of the living." In the following passages the word is brought 
into closer connexion with the present, as w^e may suppose the lan- 
guage to be that of a kind of prophetic plaint uttered by the Jews, 
in the persons of their typical representatives, David and Jeremiah, 
in the depths of their national distresses. Ps. 88. 3 — 5, " For my 
soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. 
I am counted with them that go down into the pit ; I am as a man 
that hath no strength ; free among the dead, like the slain that lie 
in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more; and they are cut 



Exposition of Ezekiel xxyiYu, 1-14. 35 

off i^'^Yi^) from thy hand." Lam. 3. 54, " Waters flowed over my 
soul; then I said, I am cutoff (^n-^l^^)." But a still more strik- 
ing illustration of the force of the term is to be seen in its parallel- 
ism with the language of Paul, Rom. 11. 6 — 24, where he speaks 
of unbelieving Israel as the natural branches cut off from their own 
olive-tree, but destined, in the counsels of God, to be again graffed in, 
and to partake of the sap and fatness of their native stock ; — a pas- 
sage in which we are no doubt to recognize a covert allusion to 
the very phrase which the Spirit here employs. Such striking con- 
cealed links of connexion between different parts of the inspired 
Scriptures are continually disclosing themselves to the diligent stu- 
dent of the original, and form to his mind an argument perfectly 
irrefra2;able of the identity of that intelligence and of the unity of 
that drift which pervades the whole. Thus, in relation to the ima- 
gery here employed, where the scattered bones and the dissevered 
and withered branches form its prominent materials, it is not a little 
remarkable that the Psalmist, no doubt in a prophetic vein, and 
in relation to the same subject, has grouped together precisely 
the same emblems: Ps. 141.7, "Our bones are scattered at the 
grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the 
earth." We must admit, indeed, that the image is that of chips 
made by the wood- cutter, to which the scattered and whitened bones 
are compared, but still our previous explanations show that the 
approximation is sufficiently close to bring the one into significant 
parallelism with the other. Another prophet, in portraying the 
extremities of Jewish degradation and misery in their dispersion, uses 
the same figure : Lam. 4. 8, " Their visage is blacker than a coal ; 
they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaveth to their bones ; 
it is withered ; it is become as a slick ;" i. e. like a branch exscinded 
from the tree and withered. The language here attributed to the 
desolate and down-trodden race of Israel is in effect very strikingly 
embodied in the despairing accents of Job, eh. 19. 10 : " He hath 
destroyed me on every side, and I am gone ; and mine hope hath 
he removed like a tree ;" i. e. like a tree cut down and left to dry 
and rot upon the ground. Indeed, as nearly every item which his- 
tory records of the abject condition of the Jews in all ages since 
their dispersion is matter of the minutest specification of prophecy, 
so we may consider the Lamentations of Jeremiah as a continued 
echo to those plaints of despondency and woe which are reduced to 
a compend in the passage before us. The whole drift and burden 
of its pathetic stanzas is the utterance of that sentiment of sadness, 
hopelessness, and desolation which breathes in the language that 
the Most High here ascribes to the sons of the covenant: " Behold 
they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off 
for our parts." With this burden the language of the modern Jews 
at Jerusalem, as related by Dr. Wolff, remarkably agrees : — 



36 



The Valley of Vision. 



Rahhin. On account of the palace which is laid waste 

People. We sit lonely and weep. 

R. On account of the temple which is destroyed ; 

P. We sit lonely and weep. 

R. On account of the walls which are pulled down ; 

P. We sit lonely and weep. 

R. On account of the priests who have stumbled ; 

P. We sit lonely and weep. 

R. On account of the kings who have despised Him ; 

P. We sit lonely and weep. 

R. We beseech thee to have mercy upon Zion ; 

P. Gather the children of Jerusalem. 

R. Make haste, O Redeemer of Zion ; 

P. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem. 

R. Remember the shame of Zion ; 

P. Remember again the ruins of Jerusalem. 

R. May the royal government shine on Zion ; 

P. Comfort those who mourn at Jerusalem. 



VERSE XII. 



HEB. 



ENG. VERS. 



-nb do^bb^i n^^^;i ^^5^r^ i^b 

GR. OF LXX. 

Aiarovzo TTQoqj^tevaov, aai el- 
noVy Tdde Xsysi KyQiog, 'Jdov, 
iyco dvoiyco ra fivri^ata v(imVy 
xai dva^co vfidg ix 'Z(ov ^vi^^atcov 
vfimv, xal €iad^(o vixdg eig rrv yijv 
tov 'IcQa^l. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN 

Wherefore prophesy, and say 
unto them, These things saith the 
Lord God, Behold, I will open your 
sepulchres and cause you to go up 
from your sepulchres, O my people, 
and will bring you into the land of 
Israel. 



Therefore prophesy and say unto 
them, Thus saith the Lord God ; 
Behold, O my people, I will open 
your graves, and cause you to come 
up out of your graves, and bring 
you into the land of Israel. 



ENG. VERS. 

Wherefore prophesy, and say, 
These things saith the Lord, Be- 
hold, I open your graves, and will 
bring you from your graves, and 
will bring you into the land of Is- 
rael. 



VULG. VERS. 

Proptera vaticinare, et dices ad 
eos, Hsec dicet Dominus Deus, Ecce 
ego aperiam tumulos vestros, et 
educam vos de sepulchris vestris, 
populus mens; et inducam vos in 
terram Israel. 



COMMENTARY. 



Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Behold, my people, 
&c. The reflection at once suggested by these words is that of the 
persisting favor with which God regards the seed of Abraham, not- 
withstanding the apostacy which has accumulated their afflictions 



Exposition of Ezekiel xxxvii. 1-14. 37 

upon them. The endearing appellation — ^' my people " — evinces 
that they are still his — his in covenant—" by an emphasis of interest 
his" — although they have forfeited all the privileges of that rela- 
tion by their protracted rebellion, and though in the estimation of 
the mass, it may be, of the Christian church, they are regarded as 
outcasts and aliens who have no longer any federative interest in 
the promises made to Abraham. This phraseology will be seen to 
possess more force in this relation by contrasting it with that of cer- 
tain passages that have an air of repudiation grounded upon the 
displeasure which their transgressions had occasioned. Thus Ex. 
32. 7, " And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down ; for thy 
people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have cor- 
rupted themselves," &c. So also Ezek. 13. 17, " Likewise, thou 
son of man, set thy face against the daughters of tliy people, which 
prophesy out of their own heart, and prophesy thou against them." 
We perceive in this a tone of alienation, as though God would not 
deign to recognize a covenant relation to his people, entirely at 
variance with the tenor of his address in the present passage. We 
are probably not in error in supposing that Christians, for the most 
part, deem the ancient covenant made with Israel as virtually abol- 
ished since their rejection of the Messiah, and that although not 
precluded from forgiveness upon acting faith in the Gospel, yet they 
must come into the fold of Christ upon precisely the same terms 
with Gentile believers, casting away all reference to any covenant 
relations which may formerly have distinguished their fathers. This 
is indeed true in one sense — that the Jew as well as the Gentile is 
to be saved only by faith in a Messiah who has come — but with the 
clear assurances of holy writ before us we see not how the evidence 
can be resisted, that the Jews are yet a covenant people, and that 
as such they are to be re-incorporated into the fold of the faithful. 
On what other grounds does Jehovah here address the Jews as his 
people, notwithstanding their outcast attitude ? The absolute per- 
petuity of the covenant made with Abraham can alone afford the 
solution : " And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, 
and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting cov- 
enant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will 
give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art 
a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession." 
This is the covenant of which Paul says, that the law delivered at 
Sinai four hundred and thirty years afterwards did not annul it ; and 
this is confirmed through the prophet Jeremiah in the most express 
terms : *' Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by 
day, and the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by 
night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar ; the 
Lord of Hosts is his name ; if these ordinances depart from before 



38 The Valley of Vision, 

me, saith the Lord, then the s''ed of Israel also shall cease from 
being a nation before me forever." Again, " If they break my 
statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their 
transgression with the rod, and iheir iniquity with stripes. Never- 
theless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor 
suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor 
alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." 

/ will Of en your graves^ and cause you to come up out of your 
graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. This is clearly but 
an amplification, in somewhat varied phrase, of the leading promise 
of the present inspired oracle. It is indeed true that we are to recog- 
nize a slight inroad upon the symmetry of the symbol in the intima- 
tion, that the mystic bones are to be brought out of graves or sepul- 
chres, whereas they had previously been represented as lying pro- 
miscuously strewed over the surface of the ground. Of this Rosen- 
miiller remarks. Ego in hac dissimilitudine hcBrendum non puto. 
He plainly regards it of little or no consequence in its bearings on 
the general burden of the prediction. The object of the Spirit is 
beyond question to present the helpless and hopeless condition of 
the subject in the strongest light, and therefore he uses the most 
emphatic terms. No state more remote from life and activity can 
be conceived than that of arid bones reposing in the depths of the 
iSepulchre. Such an image, accordingly, would be pre-eminently 
adapted to set forth the amazing stretch of omnipotence requisite to 
raise the Jews from their entombment as a nation, and to invest 
them with the prerogatives of a renewed and sanctified humanity. 
This is obviously the scope of the symbolic assurance, which differs 
not at all from that of the preceding portions of the vision already 
elucidated. The purpose mentioned at the close of the verse, of 
bringing them into the land of Israel, is not to be considered as 
exhausting the full design of their resuscitation. This indeed is as 
unequivocally announced as could be compassed by the power of 
language, but this is not the ultimate end which infinite wisdom aims 
to accomplish. A higher purpose is their recovery to spiritual life, 
which is more clearly disclosed in the fourteenth verse. Did our 
limits permit we should be much inclined to go into an extended 
investigation of Is. 26. 7 — 9, with a view to show^ its entire paral- 
lelism with the burden of the present prophecy : " He will destroy 
(5)^3 swallow up) in this mountain the face of the covering cast 
over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He 
will swallow up {^\^) death in victory ; and the Lord God will 
wipe away tears from all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall 
he take away from ofi' all the earth : for the Lord hath spoken it." 
The period here referred to is undoubtedly that of the blissful con- 
summation with which the restoration of Israel is to synchronize, 



Exposition of EzeJciel xx'S.Yn. 1-14. f39 

the golden age of the world, to be ushered in by the introduction of 
the New Jerusalem, as identical with the moimtain Jdiigdom which, 
after smiting and demolishing the image of all worldly despotisms, 
is to grow and fill the earth. The " face of the covering cast over 
all people " is a highly metaphorical expression for that veil of 
ignorance, error, and unbelief, which rests in a distinguished manner 
upon the Jewish mind, and which Paul assures us, 2 Cor. 3. 16, is 
to be done away when that people shall turn to the Lord ', but which 
also clouds more or less the mental perception of the Gentile races. 
Piscator supposes the phrase to be equivalent, by hypallage, to 
" covering of the face," and that the allusion is to the winding sheets 
"which are WTapped about the bodies and faces of the dead when 
laid out for burial. The absorption of the veil is, accordingly, its 
casting off by the spiritually dead, and their resurrection to spiritual 
life. The swallowing up of death, in like manner, is but another 
form of expressing the same idea, and is parallel to the " life from 
the dead," of which the apostle speaks, Rom. 11. 15, as the result 
of the receiving again of the Jews. That it cannot allude to the 
fnal abolition of death, at the close of all things, is evident from 
the context, where events are clearly spoken of as subsequent to this 
event, which suppose the continuance of time and natural mortality. 
The intimation is to our minds very obvious, that the removal of the 
mystic veil from the eyes of the Jews is the signal of a similar event 
to other nations, which shall receive a glorious illumination from 
the accomplishment of the prophetic destinies of Israel. But upon 
the proof of this, by a labored exegetical process, we cannot now 
enter. 

It is ever to be borne in mind that the fulfilment of prophecy is 
effected by the ordinary course of Providence, in which the agents 
act from appropriate motives, and without the express design of 
accomplishing the purposes of Heaven. When the Most High 
accordingly declares that he will bring the house of Israel into their 
own land, it does not follow that this will be effected by any mira- 
culous interposition which will be recognized as such. Nothing 
more is implied than that it will be so ordered in Providence that 
motives will be furnished for such a return, appealing it may be to 
the worldly and selfish principles of the Jewish mind. It is by no 
means improbable that the affairs of the nations, or the progress of 
civihzation, may take such a turn as to offer to the Jews the same 
carnal inducements to remove to Syria, as now prompt them to 
migrate to this country. Indeed when we consider the force of 
nationalpredilectionsnaturallyoperating with that people, and draw- 
ing them with a mighty attraction, to their paternal soil, we can 
scarcely doubt, that a much less degree of worldly inducement will 
suffice to turn their faces and their footsteps thither than to any other 



40 The Valley of Vision. 

region of the earth. It does not appear, therefore, that any special 
duty of Christians is involved in this predicted lot of Israel, except 
so far as governmental action may be requisite in removing the 
political obstacles that stand in the way of the event. Farther than 
this we do not perceive that Christian interference is called for. The 
Jews may be safely left to themselves to carry out, under their own 
promptings, the accomplishment of their own destiny in this respect. 
The great work of Christians, in the mean time, is to labor for their 
conversion. In this they are undoubtedly authorized to look for a 
considerable measure of success, though it be admitted that the bulk 
of the nation is not to be converted till after their restoration ; for 
it is only upon the coming together of bone to his bone that the 
Spirit of life comes into them, and they stand up an exceeding great 
army. 

We are well aware that a multitude of queries may be started 
relative to the ultimate end to be compassed by the event here an- 
nounced. The question of the cui bono is a very natural one to be 
urged in this connexion. To this we may very properly reply, that 
our inability to discover an adequate end of such a movement of Pro- 
vidence is not sufficient to countervail the evidence of the fact, pro- 
vided that fact be made out by a logical competency of proof. Our 
business is wnth the evidence of the fact, and until the evidence which 
we have adduced from the present and kindred prophecies be over- 
thrown, we see no grounds to be troubled on the score of the reasons 
by which the divine counsels are governed. We are at best but 
poorly qualified to sit in judgment upon the ultimate purposes of the 
Most High. Their fathomless depths mock the soundings of rea- 
son's profoundest plummet. In how" many instances, in his past 
dispensations, has God brought the course of events to issues which 
"would never have entered into the imagination of men or angels ? 
Were the whole hierarchy of heaven to be empannelled in one grand 
jury of inquest on the final aims of any one of the divine proceedings, 
how easily might their findings be baffled ! We say, then, that 
arguments drawn from human ignorance are not properly to be 
arrayed against conclusions to which we are brought by a legiti- 
mate train of proof. The true question is, whether God hath said 
that he will do it. Our object has been to show that he has ; and 
if we have succeeded in this, our conclusion must stand, whether 
we can see the reasons of it or not. Every sound principle of her- 
meneutics reclaims against a construction of the prophet's language 
which would turn it into some vague and mystical allusion of a 
purely spiritual import, involving nothing of a literal sense. 

As we read the lively oracles we gather, indeed, no intimation 
that there is to be, properly speaking, any new dispensation to be 
accorded to man on the earth. But there may doubtless be nevr 



Exposition of Ezekiel xxxv'ii, 1-14. 41 

phases or features of the present Christian dispensation in the ages 
of coming time. The development of the grand destinies of Chris- 
tianity may very possibly be of an exceedingly strange and astound- 
ing character; and if we could fully grasp them from our present 
position, they would perhaps fill us with an astonishment similar to 
that which w^ould have struck the mind of an ancient Israelite, could 
he have looked forward some few centuries, and have seen the en- 
tire abolition of Judaism with its gorgeous rites — its smoking altars 
— its mitred priests — and its varied services. As the sublime coun- 
sels of Jehovah go into accomplishment, they often present them- 
selves in new aspects, so that while the^ actually realize the very 
letter of prophecy that was before our eyes, we are at the same 
time filled with overwhelming wonder at the glory of the truth, and 
at our own obtuseness in not previously perceiving it. 

In the present case, however, we can well conceive that one 
purpose of immense moment may be answered by such an event as 
the literal return of the Jews to the land of their fathers ; and that 
is the effect it shall have on the conversion of the world. It will 
not only rend the veil from a thousand prophecies, hitherto wrapped 
in obscurity, but it w^ill give a new and irresistible impulse to the 
moral conquest of the nations. The simple contemplation of the 
fact, that the seed of Jacob, after centuries of dispersion, oppression, 
and misery, are, in exact accordance with the letter of inspiration, 
brought again to their own borders, and invested with pre-eminent 
dignities and favors, will of itself exert a moral influence such as 
we can now but inadequately conceive. Infidelity will be silenced 
for ever, and the world struck dumb by the occurrence of a virtual 
theophany made manifest before their eyes. When the Most High 
descended in all the pomp of the Godhead upon the flaming sum- 
mit of Sinai, and there delivered his law and avouched the seed of 
Jacob as his peculiar people, the transaction occurred in an obscure 
region of the earth, far removed from the eyes of the rest of the 
world, who little dreamt of the sublime exhibition that was then 
making to a comparative handful of the human race. But the event 
we are now considering will be as conspicuous as the other was 
latent. It will occur in the full view of the whole civilized world. 
It will blaze with notoriety. It will flash a splendid demonstration 
upon all kindreds and tongues of the truth of revelation, which no 
sophistry can elude, no obduracy resist. " The way," says Mr. 
Bickersteth, " in which the restoration of the Jews will affect all 
nations is becoming increasingly evident from facts that are arising 
before our eyes and from the dispersion of the Jews among all na- 
tions. Where have they not been scattered, and into what part of 
the earth have they not been meted out ? They are spread over 
the East. They pervade each kingdom of the W^estern Roman 

4 



42 The Valley of Vision. 

empire. Russia, and Poland, and Prussia, have millions of Jews. 
The last Russian census gives 1,080,224 Jews in Russia, apart from 
Poland. Africa and America are not without them. How can they 
be gathered from the Niger to tjie Volga; liom remotest China in 
the East, to Portugal in the West, and from each accessible country 
of North and South America, without moving every land, and mak- 
ing known throughout the world the wonderful works of God ? " 
[Restor. of the Jews^ p .221.) 

But this is not all. A christianized Judaism will not remain 
an inert element in the system of influences v;hich are destined to 
transform the moral aspeet of mankind. The law is yet appointed to 
go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The 
same predictions which secure the return of the Jews to ihe land of 
their fathers, and their conversion to the faith of Christ, enwrap also 
the intimation that they shall spontaneously assume the work of 
propagating the knowledge of that Messiah whom they have been 
so tardy in confessing. Provoked to a holy jealousy by the prior 
labors of the Gentiles in this behalf, and nerved by the zeal of men 
who have been called into the vineyard at the eleventh hour, they 
will rush upon the w^ork of the world's evangelization with the 
glowingardorof those "living creatures" — those cherubic ministers — 
who " ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning." 
" And I wmU set a sign among them, and I will send those that 
escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshisb, J^ut, and Lud, that 
draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off that have 
not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory ; and they shall de- 
clare my glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your 
brethren an offering unto the Lord, out of all nations upon horses, 
and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, 
to my holy mountain, Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children 
of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the 
Lord." 

In the accomplishment of any great event of Providence the 
power of the divine hand is manifest in proportion to the magnitude 
of the obstacles to be overcome. In the case of the Jews this con- 
sideration w^eighs in its utmost force. It is not a physical but a 
moral resistance that is to be encountered, and this affords to the 
reflecting mind a higher idea of the divine omnipotence than any 
miracle wrought by suspension of the laws which govern the natural 
world. What is the cleaving of a flood to the conquest of a rebel- 
lious spirit 1 What the bringing forth of w^ater from the smitten 
rock, to the eliciting of penitential tears from the stubborn heart ? 
The longer the Jews have withstood the evidences of the Gospel, 
the more confirmed must their prejudices have become; and the 
stronger their prejudices, the more signally is shown the truth and 



Exposition of EzeJciel xxxy'ii. 1-14. 43 

reasonableness of that religion which finally subdues them and wins 
assent. To renounce convictions of long standing and of intense 
power — to confess that we and our fathers have been in error, and 
that of the grossest kind — to give up opinions long held in the high- 
est veneration — to forsake the faith in which we have been nurtured 
from childhood, and embrace that against which we have earnestly 
contended — implies a triumph of truth which refers itself at once to 
the most glorious working of the right hand of the Most High. Such, 
we cannot doubt, will be the moral issue of the restoration of Israel, 
and in this result alone we find an ample solution of the problem 
which the prediction in itself may afford. Still we rest not the 
w^eicrht of our arfument on the ends to be answered by the event, 
but upon the scriptural evidence of the fact. 

VERSE XIII. 
HEB. ENG. VERS. 

>«b.fa|i^^.i^ mIo"* ^Db^'"^5 Q?1"''T'1 ■^^^ y® shall know that I am the 

• : • : r : • - • ^ •.•:-• Lord, whcn I have opened your 

Di)nK ^lnTO*»j^^ DS*ri"^npT,^ graves, O my people, and brought 

'' ' '*' ' "' : '^^:? dD^Hnn^^ ^°^ "P °^^ of your graves. 

GR. OF LXX. ENG. VERS. 

Kal yvcoGEGd-E OTi lyco eifu Kv- And ye shall know that I am the 

Qiog 8v rw avoi^ai tie tovg zdmvg Lord, in my opening your tombs, 

f - ~ ■, ' ^ J ^ ~ for the sake ol bringing up my peo- 

vf^cov, Tov avayaynv f^s sk tc^v pie out of the tombs. ^ ^ ^^ 
taqjcov 70V kaov fiov. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. VULG. VERS. 

And ye shall know that I am the Et scietis quia ego Dominus, cum 

Lord, when I shall have opened aperiero sepulchra vestra, et edux- 

your sepulchres, and. shall have ero vos de tumulis vestris popule 

made you to come up out of the meus. 
midst of your sepulchres, O my 
people. 

COMMENTARY. 

^nd ye shall know that 1 am the Lord, when 1 have opened your 
graves, my people, and broi/ghi you up out of your graves. It is 
not perhaps possible to conceive a more triumphant demonstration 
that can be made of the divine perfections than that which shall 
accrue from the event here announced. It is virtually a declaration 
that Jehovah will make himself known in the glory of his power 
and the truth of his promises. The force of this convincing display 
shall fall in the first instance on the Jewish mind, but to them it will 
not be confined. All nations shall share with them in the effects 
of this overpowering conviction. Jer. 33. 9. " And it shall be to 



44 ^ The Valley of Vision. 

me a name of joy, and a praise, and an honor, before all the nations 
of the earth, \vhich shall hear of all the good that I do unto them ; 
and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the 
prosperity that I shall procure unto it." As it takes place in an 
age of the world when the human mind has reached a high degree 
of development and will be fully able to appreciate the weight 
of this kind of evidence, no deduction of science will carry with 
it more authority than that which attaches to the proof thus af- 
fordt^d of a stupendous divine interposition. God is known in all 
those striking occurrences which refer themselves directly to him as 
their true agent ; and from repeated intimations in his word it W'ould 
appear, that no order of events was ever designed to illustrate more 
signally the actings of Omnipotence than his dealings in the latter 
day with his own people. The language of the Psalmist in refer- 
ence to a former event of the same character will be eminently ap- 
plicable to this : Ps. 126. 1, 2, " When the Lord turned again the 
captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our 
mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing ; then said 
they among the heathen. The Lord hath done great things for them." 
In the following passages the allusion is direct to the effect here 
described : Ezek. 28. 25, 26, " Thus saith the Lord God ; When 
I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among 
whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of 
the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my, 
servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build 
houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dw^ell with confidence, 
when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them 
round about them : and they shall know that I am the Lord their 
God." Ezek. 34. 28, 30, " And they shall no more be a prey to 
the heathen, neither shall the beasts of the land devour them ; but 
they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And I 
will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more 
consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the 
heathen any more. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their 
God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my 
people, saith the Lord God." Ezek. 36. 23, 24, " And I will sanc- 
tify my great name which was profaned among the heathen, which 
ye have profaned in the midst of them ; and the heathen shall know 
that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified 
in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the hea- 
then, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into 
your own land." So after the defeated invasion of Gog and Magogs 
Ezek. 38. 23, " Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; 
and I will be knowm in the eyes of many nations, and they shall 
know that I am the Lord." 



Exposition of Ezelciel'xxxvn. 1-14. 45 

VERSE XIV. 
HEB. ENG. VERS. 

^nnsni nn^^ni d^n ^nin ^nn:^ ^nd shaii put my spirit in you, 

• :- •: •.••:• '■ ^ I ' ~'^- and ye shall live, and 1 shall place 

^3 Dri^^^j D5r\537M°b5 d^r^ yo^ ^ your own land : then shall 

^L^%^'' H^^-ln^if '\LZ,L^ b_si-m\lv% ye know that I the Lord have 

DS<5 ^t)^Wl^ Tnn? ^0^; '?^ spoken it, and performed it, saith 

♦ J^'lH"' *^® Lord. 

r : 
GR. OF LXX. ENG. VERS. 

Kal dcoGco Tivev^a fiov eig vfiag. And I will put my Spirit into you, 

'Aai Uaea&e, xal Omouai vuag im ^^^ Y^ ^hall live, and I will place 

\ '~ f », ^ / a '^ you upon your land, and ye shall 

7^^ yijv^ vi^mv yiat yv^aEa<>E on {^^^ \^^^^ { ^^ ^^^ 'Lo^df I have 

8/0) KvQiog-^ lElalr]xa y.ai noi- spoken and will do (it), saith the 
jjdco, Xiyei Kvqiog. Lord. 

TARG. OF JONATHAN. VULG. VERS. 

And I will put my Spirit in you, Et dedero spiritum meum in vo- 

and ye shall live, and I will make bis, et vexeritis, et requiescen vos 

you to dwell upon your land, and facium super humum vestrum; et 

ye shall know that I have decreed scietes quia ego Dominus locatus 

it in my Word, and will confirm it, sum, et leci, ait Dominus Deus. 
saith the Lord. 

COMMENTARY. 

And 1 shall put m,y Spirit into you, and ye shall live, and I shall 
place you in your own land ; then shall ye know that 1 the Lord 
have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord. Heb. "^tnnsh 
shall cause you to rest in your own land ; implying a tranquil and 
undisturbed possession, like that of Adam in Eden, to which the 
same term is applied. Gen. 2. 15 : " And the Lord God took the 
man and put him (^f^J^*^?;^ made him to rest) in the garden of 
Eden," &c. As the preparatory process of Israel's vivification is 
so strikingly analogous to that of Adam, the Spirit therefore has 
adopted the same term in reference to the subsequent allocation of 
each. The virtual language of the prediction to them in their cap- 
tivity is that of Micah, 2. 10, " Arise ye, depart ; for this is not your 
rest." The realized result of all that is here predicted will be little 
short of imparting a new sense to its favored subjects. Their eyes 
shall be opened to the recognition of a meaning in the inspired ora- 
cles which they had never before perceived, as it is intimated that 
they shall be no less impressed with the fact that God had an- 
nounced the event, than that he hdid acco?nplished it To their 
astonishment they will find themselves restored in exact accordance 
with their own prophecies, which, notwithstanding they had had 
them for ages in their hands, they had never hitherto fully under- 
stood. What a flood of light will then be poured upon their minds 



46 The Valley of Vision. 

from this source we may in some measure conceive. The inspired 
pages which contain these assurances for them, contain also the 
promise of various other connected results which suppose the Messiah 
to have come, and the Gospel to be true. This will bear with over- 
whelming effect upon their conversion. The veil of unbelief will 
be removed from their eyes, and they shall look upon him whom 
they have pierced and mourn. "In that day shall there be a great 
mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the val- 
ley of Megiddon." Nor let it be supposed that this transcendent 
token of favor will tend to beget and foster in the Jewish mind a 
proud, self-complacent, supercilious spirit at war with the humbling 
genius of the Gospel. They will find a sufficient antidote to this in 
the repeated assurance, "Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord 
God, be it known unto you ; be ashamed and confounded for your 
own ways, house of Israel." And again, " That ye may be 
ashamed and confounded and never lift up your face any more when 
I am pacified towards thee for all thy sins, saith the Lord." The 
memory of their past ingratitude and stubborn unbelief will chasten 
the consciousness of their present experience of the divine compas- 
sion, and weigh down the risings of unhallowed elation of spirit. 
Having much forgiven, they will love much, and true love cannot 
but be humble. As in the case of every individual penitent, the 
conviction that where sin has abounded, grace has much more 
abounded, always works the profoundest abasement of soul, so 
doubtless will it be in the case of the Jews as a people. Remem- 
bering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall ; 
my soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me." 



CONCLUSION. 

We have thus endeavored to elicit the testimony of a very re- 
markable portion of the prophetic Scriptures, in favor of the posi- 
tion of the literal return of the Jews to the land of their fathers. 
We would fain believe that the argument has been conducted on 
the ground of a fair and unimpeachable exegesis of the sacred text. 
We are certainly unconscious of having done violence to the import 
of a single expression. That the vision of the prophet was intended 
to shadow forth an actual return of the chosen people from the land 
of their dispersion, is ascertained by the clearest declarations of 
Jehovah himself, who has vouchsafed the exposition ol his own 
meaning. The only question of which the subject admits is, w^he- 
(her this return were the return from Babylon, or whether it is one 
that is yet future. On this head we are aware that it may not be 



Exposition of EzeJciel xxxv'ii. 1-14. 47 

easy to preclude all doubt. So far as tbe present oracle alone is 
concerned, our proof is twofold ; (1.) From the connexion of this 
chapter with the preceding, which may be shown beyond question 
to look to a future fulfilment ; and (2.) From the symbolical en- 
dowment of the dry bones with life. This, we contend, is the adum- 
bration of an effect to be produced upon the Jews subsequent to their 
restoration, and to be nothing more nor less than the mystic infu- 
sion into them of spiritual life by the quickening agency of the Holy 
Ghost, the only author of a new creation. It cannot, we think, be 
shown that any such result followed their restoration from the Baby- 
lonish captivity -, and until it be clearly evinced that something was 
then wrought upon the nation at large corresponding to the signi- 
ficance of the symbols, we must feel constrained to adhere to our 
previous interpretation. The influence shadowed forth under the 
imagery of the vision, we are persuaded is the same with that an- 
nounced in a large class of passages of which the following are 
specimens: " A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit 
will I put within you ; and I will take away the stony heart out of 
your flesh, and w^ill give you a heart of flesh." " After those days, 
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write 
it in their hearts ; and I will be their God, and they shall be my 
people." " Neither will I hide my face any more from them ; for 
I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord." 
" And 1 will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my 
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." This, if 
we mistake not, is merely the definition of that spiritual life with 
which, in answer to the fervent prayers of Christendom, the Jews 
are to be invested upon their restoration to the land of their longing. 
Nothing like it has yet occurred on the grand scale which is here 
announced. 

But the truth is, the position which w^e maintain rests by no 
means upon the burden only of the present prophecy. Its announce- 
ments find an echo in hundreds of parallel Scriptures. The whole 
force of these predictions bears therefore directly in support of the 
prophetic thesis which we are here defending ; so that if there be 
admitted to be a single announcement in the Scriptures of the literal 
restoration, the presumption is assuredly in favor of the view w^hich 
we have taken of the scope of the present vision. Upon the distinct 
array and consideration of the multitudinous oracles touching this 
grand event, it is not the purpose of this essay to enter. We have 
merely selected one of a remarkable character, and aimed to present 
it in somewhat of its true iinport. It w^ould be easy to confirm our 
exposition by a much more extended adduction of parallel passages. 
These we leave for others, or for ourselves on other occasions. Our 
purpose is answered by what we have already accomplished. 



ADDENDUM — A. 



DANIEL XII. 2. 



HEE. 



nis^nb n^^^^ uh^^ ^^nb rk^ ^:s^p- ^S2?-n!ai]^ ^)m2 d^s^^ 

T —.1- V ••: T •• — : V •• 'T T T _;_....;. .—. 



GR. 



ovTOi elg ^(or^v almviov^ xai. ovzoi eig ovEidiOfibv xai elg aia/^vvi]v 



(uconov. 



ENG, VERS. 



And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: 
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 

On a somewhat closer view of this passage I am satisfied that 
the present rendering is inaccurate, and that the true version not 
only admits, but absolutely requires, the sense of a figurative instead 
of a literal resurrection. It will be observed that according to the 
established rendering the distinction of allotment is made subsequent 
to the awaking from the dust, and as this appears to find a parallel 
in our Saviour's words, John 5. 28, 29, " Marvel not at this ; for 
the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall 
hear his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto 
the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resur- 
rection of damnation," it has been often regarded as announcing 
directly and primarily the fact of the future resurrection of the 
righteous and the wicked at the day of judgment, in accordance 
with the New Testament doctrine on that subject. There has in- 
deed been a difficulty not easily surmounted in accounting for the 
introduction of this announcement in this particular connexion, as 
neither the preceding nor succeeding context would naturally sug- 
gest the idea that the prophet's disclosures had conducted us to the 
end of the present mundane dispensation. On the contrary, the 
more obvious impression we think would be, that the event here 
spoken of was intimately connected with that partial national deliv- 
erance announced in the preceding verse, where the standing up 
of Michael for Daniel's people is predicted, together with the deli» 



Addendum — A. 49 

verance of a remnant whose names were written in ihe book of the 
living. We confess indeed to the very great difficulty of assigning 
the precise period which the Spirit of prophecy had in view as the 
time of such unprecedented trouble and such a signal deliverance; 
but we are none the less certain, that the language employed in the 
present text is symbolical, and that some other than the final literal 
resurrection of the righteous and wicked dead is intended by it» 
The ground of this opinion is twofold : 

(1.) The express declaration that not all, but many, of them 
that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. We are well aware 
that a multitude of high names may be adduced in support of the 
interpretation which makes many in this relation to be equivalent 
to all. But we fully accord with the remarks on this head of Dr. 
Hody in his Treatise on the Resurrection, who says : "I most fully 
acknowledge that the word many makes this text extremely diffi- 
cult, I know what expositors say ; but I am not satisfied with any 
thing that I have hitherto met with. Some tell us that many is 
sometimes used in the Scriptures to signify all : — but this does not 
clear the difficulty ; for there is a great difference between many 
and many of. Jill they that sleep in the dust are many ; but many 
of them that sleep in the dust cannot be said to be all they that 
sleep in the dust. — -Many of does plainly except some.'' In- 
deed, if the doctrine of the general resurrection were designed to 
be taught in this passage, the use of the limitary term many is ut- 
terly inexplicable. Why, upon an announcement of such transcend 
ent importance, should we be left to the possibility of mistake? 

As to the theory of a frsf, or resurrection of the saints, in 
contradistinction to a second, or resurrection of the wicked, with an 
interval of a thousand years between them, — which some have pro- 
posed as a key to the solution of the difficulty, making this identical 
with the frst resurrection — as we see for ourselves no evidence 
whatever of any such twofold resurrection, we wave all notice of 
it in this connexion. Until the main position is shown to be true, 
it is lost labor to attempt to disprove the application of a particular 
text in its support. As then the evidence seems decisive that ihe 
passage does not point to the general resurrection of all men at the 
last day, the conclusion is inevitable, that a symbolical and not a 
literal reviviscence is here intended. This is confirmed, 

(2.) By a sound exegetical view of the prophet's language. 
This will be most adequately exhibited in a literal version of the 
text;— "And many of the sleepers of the dust of the earth shall 
awake — these to lile everlasting, and those to shame and everlasting 
contempt." This will be seen at once to give an entirely new aspect 
to the passage. According io the established rendering, the distinc- 
tion, so broadly conveyed, in the lot of the two classes is entirely 

4* 



50 Addendum — A. 

consequent upon their awaking from the dust. The one class awakes 
to life and honor, the other to shame and dishonor. Now this we 
affirm to be wholly unsustained by a fair construction of the origi- 
nal. According to that the distinction is between those who auake 
to life, and those who do not awake at all. In the outset all are 
represented as sleeping. Out of these all a portion (c^s"] 'many) 
awake; the rest remain unawakened. This is the giound of the 
distinction. " These," i. e. the awakened, awake to everlasting 
life, *' and those," i. e. the other class, uho abide in the dust, who 
do not awake at all, remain subject to the shame and ignominy of 
that spiritual death which marked their previous condition. The 
" awaking " is evidently predicated of the " many," and not of the 
"whole. Consequently the" these," in the one case, must be under- 
stood of the class that awakes, and the " those," in the other, of that 
■which remains asleep. There is no ground whatever for the idea 
that the latter awake to shame and contempt. It is simply because 
they do not awake that this character pertains to them. The error 
in our translation has arisen from rendering the pronouns n|s — T^\i<) 
by some — and some, instead of by these — and those referring re- 
spectively to subjects previously indicated. By the former method 
a distinction is constituted between those who are awakened ; by the 
latter; between those who are and those who ore not awakened. 
The difference is all important, and though the force of the criticisni 
can be fully appreciated only by those who are conversant with 
the Hebrew, yet the common reader can scarcely fail to perceive 
from the following examples how strongly our interpretation is for- 
tified by current usage when these words are taken distributively : 
Josh. 8. 22, " So they were in the midst of Israel — wr r.^x n.|^ r.|x^ 
these c?i this side, and those on that side.^^ 2 Sarn. 2. 13, " And 
they sal down, the one (nV^^ these) on the one side of the pool, and 
the other (n|i<^ and those) on the other side of the pool." 1 Kings, 
20. 20, " Andlhey pitched one over against the other (n^x nrb Jn^x 
these over against those) seven days." In one single instance, and 
only one, in the whole Bible, do we find these terms used in a sense 
which affords countenance to the rendering in question. This is in 
Vs. 20. 7," Some (n^x these) trust in chariots, and some (nKv-i and 
those) in horses : but we will remember," &c. The whole weight 
of authority is evidently in favor of the construction we have given 
to the phrase. The first denotes those who awoke, the second those 
who remained asleep. Life ?ind glory crowned the first, shame and 
execration clothed the last. Thus understood the passage yields a 
clear and consistent sense, in which no violence is done to the 
phrase, many of them that sleep. Its restricted import is preserved, 
which is otherwise lost. Nor must we here omit to remark that 
the usage which obtains in regard to the Hebrew term y^P or y;r^ 



Addendum — A. 5 1 

to awake, cIops not so well admit of its being taken, in such a figura- 
tive relation, in any but a good sense. The Psalmist says of him- 
self, Ps. 17. 15, " As for me, I shall behold ihy face in righteousness ; 
I shall be satisfied when I awake (i^iirna), with thy likeness." But 
while it appropriately expresses the awaking of the righteous to a 
beatified state, it is undoubtedly contrary to the genius of the word 
to apply it to any change or transition in the state of the wicked. 

Nor can we here refrain from adducing again the strikingly 
parallel passage of Isaiah, ch. 26. 19 " Thy dead men shall live, 
together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake (5i:s^)!5n)and 
sing, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast 
forth her dead." These are doubtless the " many " of Daniel, for 
Gabriel, who is the speaker in this part of the book, tells the pro- 
phet that he w-ill " show h*m that which is noted in the Scripture 
of truth," i. e. what is contained in the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
Ezekiel, and other prophets. Here, therefore, he gives an impor- 
tant item of his explanation by pointing to those who are to "awake" 
from the dust and sing. As for the rest, who did not enter into this 
number, they are undoubtedly designated in a preceding verse, Is. 
26. 14: "They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, 
they shall not rise; therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, 
and made all their memory to perish." We should not be surprised 
if the progress of biblical investigation should yet establish the most 
intimate relation between these texts and that int;insely mysterious 
portion of the Apocalypse which announces the spiritual quicken- 
ing, in the first resurrection, of those saints who lived and reigned 
with Christ a thousand years, and of " the rest of the dead who lived 
not (ot'>c s^i]6av — erroneously rendered "lived not again") until 
the thousand years were finished ;" or, rather, perhaps " as long as 
the thousand years were finishing," i. e. during the whole course of 
the millennium, without any implication that ihey should live when 
that period had expired. 

It is moreover worthy of notice that the term here rendered 
contempt (*i'ii<'7"?) occurs only once elsewhere, under a slight change 
of form (")i5<'iT),and that is in Is. 66. 24, where it is applied to dead 
carcasses which are devoured by worms, and thence become an 
'^ abhorring ['^i^"^"}) to all flesh," where the language is undoubtedly 
figurative, and points to a state of moial corruption and putridity 
characteristic of those who remained in an attitude of persevering 
transgression against God. As this passage throws light upon the 
use of the term as here employed, and strikingly confirms the above 
interpretation, so it becomes a question of deep exegeiic import, 
whether both prophets do not in fact refer to precisely the same 
period of time, and set before us the same gran(l order of events* 
But upon this question our limits will not permit us here to enter. 



52 Addendum — A* 

The evidence is, on the whole, we think, decisive, that Daniel 
speaks of a mystical and not of a literal resurrection. It is the 
portraiture of the effects of a grand moral influence which is to be 
put forth upon a large body of his people ; and his people are the 
Jews. But the drift of the symbolic visions of Ezekiel is to de- 
scribe, as we have seen, the same result in regard to the same peo- 
ple. Why, then, shall we not regard these Scriptures as legitimately 
parallel in their scope, as we have intimated in our foregoing ex- 
position ? 



ADDENDUM— B. 



[As an apposite conclusion and crowning of the present expository 
essay, I have determined to append the following remarks on the closing 
chapters of Ezekiel, from a work on the " Second Advent," by the Rev. 
John Fry, Rector of Desford, Leicestershire, Eng. ; published at London, 
1822, in two vols. Svo. The work is now of rare occurrence, and though, 
devoted to the maintenance of the theory of the premillennial personal 
coming of Christ, from which I am forced entirely to dissent, yet it con- 
tains a large amount of valuable comment upon the prophetic Scriptures. 
With that portion of the work now subjoined which respects the final 
destiny of the Jews, I have no difficulty in according, except so far as it 
carries the implication of a personaU visible^ bodily manifestation and 
reign of Christ on the earth, during the space of a thousand years, and in 
intimate connexion with the predicted ascendency and glory of restored 
Israel. For this general theory of interpretation I find no sufficient war- 
rant in the oracles of God, and therefore am constrained to reject it alto- 
gether. As I interpret these oracles, they come much nearer to announc- 
ing an elevation and sublimation of the natural into the sphere of the 
spiritual, rather than a bringing down of the spiritual into the domain 
of the natural. While I anticipate, moreover, the most august develop- 
ments of Providence on the field of human destiny, of which the dawnings 
may even now be perceived by the enlightened eye, I look with equal 
confidence for a gradual accomplishment of all the splendid purposes of 
Infinite Wisdom. Indeed, if there be any one principle of paramount im- 
portance to be established in connexion with the interpretation of pro- 
phecy, that principle I believe to be the gradualism of its fulfilment.] 



General Remarks on the concluding Chapters of EzekieL 

After the destruction of the last mortal foe of the Israelites, 
after their complete restoration, and after the outpouring of the 
Spirit upon them, we have a description, first, of a temple to be 
built, with certain regulations respecting the worship to be cele- 
brated therein ; and, next, of the city and territory which the wor- 
shippers of this temple possess. 

I perceive nothing to render it doubtful, that the fulfilment of 
this prophecy is to be expected in the same order in which we find 
it placed in the vision before us, after the final restoration, and after 
the destruction of the last foe by the immediate hand of the great 

5 



54 Addendum — B, 

Redeemer; not, as some have supposed, previously to these events, 
so as (o be merely introductory to the establishment of Messiah's 
kingdom.* 

It is a part, I conceive, of that ^rand final dispensation. It 
shows us what will be the situation of the Israelitish nation when 
restored to be the grand metropolitan nation of the renovated earth, 
un.ler thereign of Christ and his saints. His dominion is to be bounded 
only by the extreme borders of the earth ; but the seat of his king- 
dom is to be at Zion and Jerusalem. There he sits " upon the throne 
of his kingdom ;" not so much, as we have had cause to reflect 
before, after the manner of an earthly monarch in his palace, but 
as the Elohim of Israel, enshrined in his sanctuary, according to 
the typical model exhibited in the ancient tabernacle which was 
pitched in the camp of Israel. 

The Theocracy will be restored : " at Salem" will be his taber- 
nacle — at Jerusalem, the " place of his feet," which he will ** ren- 
der glorious." Here a sanctuary and temple is to be built, not to re- 
ceive, as Solomon's temple, the contents of *' an earthly tabernacle 
of this building," but of that " made without hands, eternal in the 
heavens." Here the visible symbols of the divine presence are to 
be exhibited. Here the God-man is manifested — to anticipate the 
language of future oracles-— coming " in the glory of His Father, 
and in His own glory, and the glory of His holy angels " He is 
still the Vicegerent of His Father. He " comes again with glory," 
yet still with delegated glory; every tongue is to confess him Lord 
to the glory of God the Father. But He comes also " with His 
ow'n glory," — the glory ordained Him as the first-born of every 
creature — the righteous and victorious Son of Man. But this 
glory he shares with all " the children of the resurrection," who 
** appear with him in glory," in such sort that the King of Saints is 
as " the first-born among many brethren." This part of the glory 
that is to be manifested, we have before considered as symbolized 
by the cherubim and seraphim, both as molten and wrought about 
the mercy-seat and tabernacle, and also as seen in the visions of 
the prophets, attendant on " a resemblance like the appearance of 
a man." Besides this glory, or these glories, is enumerated " the 
glory of the holy angels " They will be seen ascending and de- 
scending upon the Son of Man, " angels and principalities being 
made subject to him" in his capacity of King of Saints. How 
these glories are particularly manifested in the holy mountain of 
Jehovah's house, or in what manner Christ and His saints will 
govern the nations upon earth, " reigning from Jerusalem to the 
end of earth," we can, perhaps, have no >ery adequate idea at 

* See the interesting work of Mr. Pirie on the Restoration of Israel. 



A.ddendnm — B. 55 

present. But it cannot be doubted, that these prophetic visions, in 
connection with other Scriptural prophecies, are designed to give 
to the waiting people of God some general notion and outline of 
what is to come to pass hereafter. 

It cannot, again, be doubted, but that we are to interpret these 
visions now before us in analogy with other prophecies. They are not 
to be interpreted " privately," as a part of Scripture standing alone, 
but as forming part of the system of prophetic revelation, which is 
designed, by little and little, to manifest to mankind, as the ap- 
pointed time draws near, what God is about to do in the great day 
of his power and kingdom. The comparison of other prophecies 
must, therefore, be our chief guide to the interpretation of this. 
And, especially, those prophecies that have been fulfilled must 
teach us, in the event foretold compared with the language and 
symbols of the predictions, how far we are to expect a substantial 
and literal fulfilment, and how much we may venture to attribute 
to metaphor and figure. 

By this rule of interpretation, I am led to conclude, that w^e are 
to expect a very substantial, and a very literal fulfilment of the 
vision before us. Those parts of prophecy that have been fulfilled, 
which foretold the present situation of Israel, and of their country, 
have been very substantially, and very literally fulfilled. — Why, 
therefore, should we doubt the exactness of the part of the vision 
as yet unfulfilled, w^hich speaks of God's future bounties to his 
people, and to his land ? 'Those parts of prophecy which des- 
cribe the humiliation and passion of the Son of God, have also 
been most substantially and most literally fulfilled, down indeed to 
the minutest circumstances pointed out in the language of the an- 
cient prophets :— even predictions, which before they came to pass, 
when interpreted literally, seemed in the estimation of the masters 
of Israel, and of the disciples of Jesus, too, very improbable, very 
unlikely to happen to " the Christ of God," very unsuitable, accord- 
ing to their conceptions, to the future kingdom and glory of the 
Messiah. If, however, w^e are careful not to interpret of the first 
advent any Scriptures but such as clearly belong to it, how^ little 
was there of metaphor and figure, except what is usual in the most 
exact and perspicuous style ! 

These are the reasons which weigh in my mind to understand 
what follows literally, and to expect an exact fulfilment of every 
circumstance detailed ; though, perhaps, the suitableness, and the 
spiritual importance of some things related, may not appear to us 
who " see through a glass darkly," or may seem inadequate to our 
expectations of the glories of Messiah's reign. We see not the 
reason, nor the design, nor the future bearings, it may be, of what 
we object to j and, therefore, are ready like Peter, on a similar 



56 Addendum — B. 

occasion, to reject the notion with disdain, as unworthy of God. 
But it surely becomes us to suspend our judgment in these cases till 
more fully informed, and not to be " slow of heart to believe all 
that tlie prophets have written." 

One thing we should bear in mind ; the vision which follows 
does not show us the glorious majesty and circumstance of the 
church triumphant, — of that " new .Jerusalem which descends from 
God out of heaven," the residence of glorified spirits, who reign 
paramount over the nations upon earth, " kings," and " priests of 
God and of Christ." But we have here a prophetic description of 
the situation of one of these nations on the earth — of men in " flesh 
and blood," " inhabiting houses of clay." The description is that 
of the most favored nation, the remnant of Israel, restored to the 
land of Canaan, made the leading nation upon earth ; and in some 
sort, as it should seem, the link of communication between mortal 
man in the flesh, and the " holy myriads" of glorified spirits that 
come with the Lord from heaven, and reign with him upon earth. 

We have already met with prophecies that have plainly told 
us of the restoration of the sanctuary and temple at Jerusalem, the 
re-organization of their priesthood, and Levitical ministry, " to 
keep the charge of the house," and to perform the rites of an ap- 
pointed ceremonial. — Jer. xxxiii. 21, &c. ; Ezek. xx. 40, &c. ; 
xxvii. 26, &c. We have been told, that the remnants of other 
nations, which shall survive the destructions of the latter days, will 
be partakers in the rites and solemnities of this new temple, and 
go up thither to w^orship ; and that some of them will be admitted 
into the priesthood of the sons of Aaron, and permitted to discharge 
the functions of the Levitical ministry. — Isaiah Ixvi. 21. We have 
been told, notwithstanding, that Israel, from its situation, and from 
the particular blessings of their fathers' God, will have a vast pre- 
eminence over the other nations, and hold a sacred character among 
them. — Isaiah Ixi. 6. All this we have already learned from 
former oracles. The vision of Ezekiel, on w^hich we are now en- 
gaged, only goes more into detail on the circumstances of this 
restored Israel, their temple, their city, and their land. 

The use which God hath made of this people, and of this 
country, in the present world, in providing for the redemption and 
gathering of the chosen remnant which are predestined to reign in 
glory with Christ " in the world to come," is extraordinary and 
. wonderful ! So, it seems, the use he will make of them, " in the 
world to come of which we speak," in regard to the whole mass 
of mankind, under the spiritual rule of Christ and his saints, will 
be extraordinary and wonderful too ! God has made of the spiritual 
children of Abraham^-the heirs of promise, who with the Seed are 
to be heirs of the world — a great people like the stars of heaven for 



-A sAetcA of 

THE MOZT LANB 
In iUustratioTi of £'xeAiel 'X2JM' 




SHOWING THE DIVISION AMOIG THE TRIBES RESTORED. 



Addendum — B. . 57 

multitude ; but he has promised besides, " In thee, and in thy seed, 
shall all the families of the earth be blessed ;" this will also come 
to pass in its season. 



JVeio Division of the Holy Land. — Ezek. xlv. and xlviii. 

In this division of the country, so different from any former 
division, six tribes are stationed in the north, and six tribes to the 
south of an offering of land, containing a square of twenty-five 
thousand reeds, lying in the midst. In the midst of this offering, 
we are told, the Sanctuary is placed. From an inspection of the 
forty-eighth chapter, it will be evident that all the portions, both 
for the tribes and for " the offering," are measured straight across, 
from east to west, from the Mediterranean to the river Jordan and 
its lakes. The former possessions of the two tribes and a half 
beyond the Jordan are not mentioned : all the tribes have an allot- 
ment in the original land of Canaan. Now, if we measure in 
breadth from north to south, making Jerusalem the middle point, 
twenty-five thousand reeds, we shall find the boundary-lines will 
pass from east to west somewhere above the latitude of Joppa, or 
Jaffa, on the north, and somewhere below the latitude of Hebron 
on the south : within these lines is " the offering," in breadth 
about forty miles, and varying in its length, according to the line 
of the Mediterranean coast on the one side, and that of the Dead 
Sea, with the course of the Jordan, on the other. All the country 
to the north will be occupied by the six tribes, Dan, Asher, Naph- 
tali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, and Judah. What is the 
breadth of their respective portions we are not told, only that they 
extend in length from Jordan to the sea, and Judah's allotment is 
next to " the offering." — Chap, xlviii. 1 — 7. 

The south of the offering is to be occupied in the same manner 
by Benjamin, Simeon, Isaachar, Zebulun, and Gad. — Ver. 23-28. 
The great " offering " of land, then, which we are more particu- 
larly to consider, lies between the latitudes of Jaffa and Hebron, or 
latitudes to be taken some miles more to the north and south. 

And here a remarkable coincidence must be pointed out. We 
learn from the prophecy of Zechariah, chapter 14 : 10, that " all 
the land was to be turned into a plain, from Geba to Rimmon, south 
of Jerusalem." Now, it will be found, Geba is on the same parallel 
of latitude w^ith Jaffa, and on the parallel of Hebron is Eremmon, 
"which is no doubt," Rimmon, south of Jerusalem." Both are about 
the same distance from Jerusalem, north and south, and both are in 
the middle point of the parallel of latitude, between east and west. 



58 . Addendum — B. 

showing clearly that the plain will nearly fill the whole space of 
the OFFERING. It should seem, then, that all, or nearly all, this 
country included between these parallels of latitude and the seas on 
either side, is to be turned into a plain, in the midst of which " the 
mountain of the Lord's house " is elevated to contain the temple. 
This new formed plain and " offering" of land contains, as we 
shall see, besides the square mile for the temple, a measured portion 
of land for the priests, another for the Levites, and another for the 
city and its suburbs. Here, too, are assigned the lands which are 
to support the dignity of the prince and his family. 

It will be surely most interesting, as far as we are able, to trace 
the different sites and respective proportions of these allotments, 
which are to support the establishment of that future Theocracy, 
the site of which God will establish in the land of Israel, and the 
dominion of which will be extended over all the earth. In the general 
division of the land, chapter forty-eighth, five and twenty thousand 
reeds in breadth w^ere to be measured off: the breadth, as we saw, 
was from north to south : the length of the different portions was 
counted from east to to west. In length the offering was to be 
as one of the other portions, viz. it was to go " from the great sea, 
westward, to the Jordan, or Dead Sea, eastward." All this offer- 
ing — or portion of land, dedicated to public purposes — is not, however, 
taken to form the holy oblation ; but the holy oblation, including 
the portion for the city, w^as to be made four-square — in length and 
breadth about forty miles. — Chap. xlv. 1 ; xlviii. 20. 

To what use the complements of the figure originally marked 
off for " THE offering " are to be applied, we shall see presently ; 
for a complement, it is evident by inspection, remains on each side, 
of irregular width, facing the Mediterranean on the west, and the 
Sea of Sodom and mouth of the Jordan on the east. 

But it appears, from an inspection of the map, that a regular 
square of forty miles could not stand in this part of the Holy Land, 
on account of the relative position of the Mediterranean and Dead 
Seas ; we must, therefore, form a figure of four equal sides, accom- 
modated to the line of coasts on either side, which, in their general 
direction, may be said to be parallel to each other. Having formed 
our four equal-sided figure, or parallelogram, as the direction of the 
country permits, each side about forty miles, so as to have Jeru- 
salem in the midst, that is, midway between north and south, for 
midway between east and west it is not situated, and in what fol- 
lows, is described as not being so situated. 

In this sacred square, we are next to measure off a portion of 
twenty-five thousand reeds in length, and ten thousand in breadth, 
for " the most holy place." The length of the portions, observe, 
within the square, is to be counted from north to south, as is ex- 



Addendum — B, 59 

pressly said in chapter xlviii. 10. Unless this was the case, indeed, 
the most holy portion could not include the Sanctuary, which it is 
said to do, because the holy mountain of Zion is about twenty miles, 
both from the north and from the south of the boundary lines ; and, 
for the same reason, we must begin to measure from the east. 
Taking, therefore, two-fifths of the breadth of the square, from east 
to west, for " the most holy place,'* which is to be the " possession 
of the priests," including the Sanctuary, we are again to take two- 
fifths more, next to the portion of the priests, for the Levites, and 
the remaining fifth, towards the west of the square, is to be for the 
city and its possessions. — Chap, xlviii. 15. 

The city is described as lying in the midst of this last division, 
which will fix its situation somewhere about twenty miles west of 
the Sanctuary, or of the spot where Jerusalem now stands, towards 
the Mediterranean sea. The city itself, according to the most pro- 
bable computation of the measures given, occupies a square of 
about eight miles : the rest of this last division is assigned for the 
support of the city, as though it were its pubhc property : — " And 
the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve the city, 
and they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of 
Israel." Lastly ; When we have formed our square, or parallelo- 
gram, of the requisite dimensions, and it appears to be as large as 
any four equal-sided figure can be formed in this part of the country, 
we shall still have, as was observed, very considerable districts of 
land, both on the west, along the shores of the Mediterranean, and 
on the east, along those of the Dead Sea and the stream of Jordan. 
These two portions, making up, with the oblation, the whole 
" OFFERING of land," are for the prince, and for the support of his 
family, his state and government (chap. xlv. 7, &c.) : we cannot 
say of his regal dignity, for king he is not. The Elohim is King, 
even Jehovah in his holy sanctuary. But, notwithstanding, the 
prince is highly distinguished among his fellow subjects, at whose 
head he is. His estates must be very large ; probably nearly equal 
to the possession of any single tribe. The Levites, too, it appears, 
are no longer dispersed as wanderers over the country, but have a 
full portion in the midst of the land. And the priests, which are to 
be all of one family, of the family of Zadoc, — all the other families 
of the sons of Aaron, it may be, having become extinct, — are to 
possess a district of country equal to the whole tribe of Levi, and, 
probably, greater than any one of the tribes besides. This will give 
us some idea of the greatness of the religious establishment of the 
IsraeUtish nation in " this world to come." Indeed, the whole 
nation seems to be distributed, as well as the priests and Levites, 
in subserviency to the support of this Sanctuary and Thkocracy ; 
and with relation to the rest of the world, appear to have all a holy, 



60 Addendum — B. 

ministerial character, while they dwell on one side or other of the 
Holy Place in their respective allotments j or when they go to " do 
the service of the city," whatever is intended by that expression. 
And as former prophecies have seemed to declare, while this favored 
nation has the charge of the sanctuary, and is employed in its ser- 
vices, the whole world is brought willingly to contribute to their 
support, to their comfort, and glory. This representation will much 
illustrate former prophecies : — 

And the strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, 
And the sons of the alien shall be your husbandmen and 
vine-dressers ; 

But ye shall be called the priests of Jehovah, 
Ministers of our Elohim shall they call you. 

Ye shall consume the wealth of the nations, 
And shall have command over their honors. 



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